what age is too young for the gospel?

im going to a church that im trying to share with them about how the church can grow. It is on a poor side of town. I feel god wants me to help that church somehow. Not become a pastor or anything, but i think god wants me to share with the church they dont need to have lots of entertainment and lots of whatever to make the church grow. they have been listening little by little that its all about the bible and trusting in god for a church to grow. its hard however because they are a methodist church that thinks sharing about hell and repentance is not loving. one thing i feel god is putting on my heart is to not forget about the children. I have been thinking about how the children need to hear convicting messages, but some of them look real young like maybe 5. is 5 years old, old enough for a convicting message about hell and all that stuff that brings a grown man to his knees. you know, repentance, and sin seperates us from god and we become enemies, but that god loved us so much he died for us? is talking about hell too much for a 5 year old...if its not then i would like to start really praying about how i can help with the children.

Corey H,
To quote you, you said
'Save the darker elements ... the incestuous rape of Tamar, the rape of David's concubines, etc... for when they are adults...

Who even witnesses to adults about that? Have you? The 'darker elements' as you call them, are not the heart of the gospel. So for me, what you have said is going too far to try to make a point.

As it is, it is a good question, for I do childminding, babysitting if you like. Sometimes the children ask me questions and I wonder what is the best way to answer them considering they are not from Christian homes, don't go to church, don't know what a Bible is, except for when they saw mine, and started to ask about it.

All I know is, they have a soul. At what age they are accountable to God is in God's hands.
But when the children ask me questions, I do answer as best as I can.

I don't ignore them or think they would not understand. And I don't instigate the conversation.

If they ask, I answer.

But, we can pray, there is nothing to stop us from doing that. God is good.

God bless.

It seems to me that age is ALMOST irrelevant. It is the amount of understanding and comprehension that a child must have in order to be saved. Remember, salvation doesn't come from a formula (example, do this this this and this, and there you go, you're now a christian), but a heart attitude towards God.

A clear understanding of the immensity of our sin before God is nessesary for a clear conversion. One can be scared to a confession through a message on hell. But to have a true heart attitude of repentance toward God, one must understand and comprehend the immensity of sin. So many false conversions come from the weak emotion centered gosple of today, it is sickening, and sad.

Lord, give us true conversions, that we may have
true Christians...

By His Grace,
-nathan

It seems to me that age is ALMOST irrelevant. It is the amount of understanding and comprehension that a child must have in order to be saved. Remember, salvation doesn't come from a formula (example, do this this this and this, and there you go, you're now a christian), but a heart attitude towards God.

A clear understanding of the immensity of our sin before God is nessesary for a clear conversion. One can be scared to a confession through a message on hell. But to have a true heart attitude of repentance toward God, one must understand and comprehend the immensity of sin. So many false conversions come from the weak emotion centered gosple of today, it is sickening, and sad.

Lord, give us true conversions, that we may have
true Christians...

By His Grace,
-nathan

I don't know. After helping in a Sunday school and driving on the church van- children seem far from innocent.
I hope more people choose to respond to this. I have to admit that I've been disturbed by what is taught to the children at my church. But then again, I'm also not so happy about what they teach the youth or the adults.... Anyway, I haven't known if I should even say anything or care because, you know, maybe I'm wrong.
Anyway, I think it's weird that what is presented to the kids is the watered down gospel when Jesus explicitly says that it is simple enough for children. If we are to come "as children" why can't people who are already children come easily also?
I don't think anyone is talking about detailing the horrid events of the crucifixion, but the Bible doesn't even go into morbid detail. Well actually, I see why someone might be concerned from the questioner's comment "bring a grown man to his knees". I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt though.
But little kids, trust me, they sin. And to neglect to tell them what Christ did for them because they are younger is horrid. But the best of all things would be godly parent's (and teachers, if you insist) who can say "Imitate me, for I imitate Christ."
I dig what Nathan said. Good answer, I think.

Deut: 6:4-9

4Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

5And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

6And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:

7And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

8And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

9And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

is 5 years old, old enough for a convicting message about hell and all that stuff that brings a grown man to his knees. you know, repentance, and sin seperates us from god and we become enemies, but that god loved us so much he died for us?

Here are some quotes from a book where God touched children himself. He didn't cut out the difficult bits...and it bore fruit in the children's lives.

P21 “Such a mighty conviction of sin-a thing for which we had prayed so long-came to all, that with tears streaming from their eyes and arms uplifted they cried out to the Lord for forgiveness for their sins, which now seemed so black. One after another went down under the mighty power of the Holy Spirit until more than twenty were prostrate on the floor.”

P34 “In the first days of the outpouring of the Spirit one small boy spoke in pure prophecy when in the Spirit he seemed to be at the feet of Jesus.”

P37 “One of the results that was first manifest among us was a clear assurance of salvation through visions and other workings of the Holy Spirit. Sin and the lost condition of each one was made so real that every bit of hope was given up unless the Lord in undeserved mercy would answer prayer for the lost and save him.”

P41 “This work of the Holy Spirit through visions, as well as in the heart, created such a great interest in Bible study that even the smaller children wanted to know if they could not stop studying ‘earthly’ books and study the Bible only.”

P42 “It was not long until we saw boy after boy in real intercessory prayer pleading with God for the lost, praying that God would use us all as real warriors for Him in this battle of righteousness.”

P42 “After 2 or 3 weeks of the Lord’s dealing with them, nearly all the children, even the younger ones, wanted to preach. We witnessed some real preaching in the power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit. Some of both the younger and older boys hardly seemed like our boys when they preached under the real anointing of the Holy Spirit, not timidly and apologetically as before but as having authority.”

P60 “Heaven was so real, so near, so wonderful, so certain, that if one of our children had died in those days the others would have envied him his privilege.”

I think most children understand far more than what we realize. If you read the Memoir of Edward Payson you'll find that his parents say that at three years of age he would weep under the preaching of the Gospel.

When my youngest brother was three years old I taught him how to install household batteries. I showed him how you match the positive sign on the battery with the positive sign on the toy (or whatever the device may be), and he understood just fine and can put batteries in his toys still three years later.

With my youngest brother I have found that if I explain things in a clear manner in his vocabulary then he can learn anything. I might need to explain things more than once or in a couple of different ways but he can comprehend way more than what most people expect of a little tike.

So to come to the conclusion of my two cents, I we, like has been stated earlier, teach them all the counsel of God and make sure that they understand it it's certainly possible for a child of maybe 5 or 6 to be genuinely born again. Although I do think that we ought to be very careful in this whole matter though with the way child evangelism has gone in the "sinner's prayer" churches. I myself am one who has been through the whole "sinner's prayer" ordeal three times (starting at age 6) and never came out with any thing real until I understood the whole way of salvation in my mid-late teens.

There is a great book by C.H. Spurgeon called Come, Ye Children that i highly recommend. He states as others have here that children are more able to understand the simple gospel as they are less jaded and hard hearted about life and set in their sinful ways than adults can be. I tend, with my kids and the sunday school, to teach, as much as possible, slightly more than they can grasp. Not to confuse or darken their minds at all, but i would rather do this than to teach a light gospel to the next generation and to my own children. If i give them something that is beyond their understanding they can ask for clarification. We all have stuff that we don't fully understand about the bible, but there is usually someone we can ask who has greater understanding than us ie the pastor etc. Same with the kids. I am careful though to not teach anything in any way that would cause them to stumble, i'm not going to teach about adultery to my four year old. I can teach what God wants TO do ie be honorable and love our wives/husbands.
Does that make sense?