Evangelizing Children

Almost 40 years ago (wow that sounds like a real long time ago), I was taught how to evangelize children. One of the methods of telling the story of the Gospel was by using different colors that correlated with different aspects of the Gospel. Gold=heaven, black=sin, red=blood of Jesus, white=clean heart, green=growing things. I used a plastic nut that had a rolled up ribbon inside of it with those colors. I would go up to children and ask them if they had ever heard a nut that told a story. Then I would proceed with telling them the Gospel using my nut with the wordless story colors.
   I believe the idea of using colors to tell the Gospel story with came from Charles Spurgeon. The organization called 'CEF' (Child Evangelism Fellowship) was started by a man with the last name of Overholzer. I can't remember his first name, but when Mr. Overholzer was 12, he asked his Christian parents about how he could be saved. His parents responded by telling him that he was not old enough yet. Mr. Overholzer went to college, and he was still wanting to know God. Once he came to Christ, he was driven to start a ministry for children so they would be able to come to know the Lord. (I just read this story somewhere, but I can't remember where it was!).
  I would still love to go out with my nut and tell the Gospel story to children and grownups, and whoever else wants to listen. I don't know where my nut is now, and I can't find another one, but I can use anything that has those colors in it. Here is a blog page explaining the meaning of the colors: http://thecolorfulstory.blogspot.com . I also found another web site that ministers specifically to children: Children Desiring God   
  Children can understand the Gospel and God can reveal Himself to them, but we do have to be careful to not create false converts also. It is easy for us to think that if a child does certain things or says certain things, that he must be saved. We can get the children to give us the right answers to the questions we are asking. We really do need to look for true fruit to come out of this. Even if the child is searching, he still might not 'get it' yet. We keep working with him or her until he does understand. God is the One who makes His word come alive to the child. His word is activated by the Holy Spirit working in the heart. We can't make it happen.
   We want to reach children with the Gospel. We want to reach old people with the Gospel. We want to reach college age kids with the Gospel. Everyone needs the Gospel. Let's practice as often as we get opportunities to open our mouths and preach the Gospel to everyone around us.