A Little Child Shall Lead Them
Dr. Bill Commons, Strategic Initiative and Research
IN THE FAMILY
My grandparents were faithful church attendees. They believed in God and lived exemplary lives. Unfortunately, their church was liberal in theology, preaching morality and good works but neglecting the central truth of the gospel—salvation by grace through faith. Thus they never heard in church that we are all sinners in need of a Savior, and that we all need to personally trust in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for forgiveness of our sins.
For nearly twenty years, my parents faithfully witnessed to them and prayed for their salvation, but my grandparents were offended by the notion that their works and religion were not good enough to be acceptable to God. What right did anybody have to say they were not true Christians?
Then, one sleepy morning in 1946, during our family’s summer visit with my grandparents when I was eight years old, my parents suggested that I tell my grandpa how I had received Christ as my personal Savior the year before.
After climbing into my elderly grandpa’s bed to chat, I shared with childlike enthusiasm my joy in knowing Jesus personally. I told him how at age seven, I prayed a simple prayer of repentance and faith, trusting in Christ and receiving Him into my life. I told him how wonderful it is to know my sins are forgiven and that I am ready for heaven! “How about you, Grandpa?” I said.
After a few moments of silence, he pushed back the sheets and knelt beside his bed. “Careful, Grandpa!” I said. He was eighty years old, and I was afraid he would hurt himself. But with a chuckle he requested, “Billy, please kneel beside an old man, and teach me how to pray.” So as an eight-year-old boy, I knelt beside my eighty-year-old grandpa and helped him pray the sinner’s prayer. That glorious morning, William Warren Tracy, my maternal grandfather, put his faith in Christ for his salvation and was born into God’s forever family. What a privilege to be his namesake, William Tracy Commons.
ON THE MISSION FIELD
Twenty-five years later, as ABWE missionaries, my wife and I were starting our first church in Hong Kong. We sought to reach the beloved Buddhist Chinese with the gospel of Christ in a government housing project of 80,000 people who were struggling to emerge from poverty and the adversities of inner-city life.
It was nearly impossible to reach the busy adults who worked long hours and were seldom home. When they were home, they did not want to be bothered by a foreigner and his strange religion. The housing project was owned by the government, and they would not grant space for a church. However, we were allocated prime premises on the ground floor of a twenty-story tenement building for a service center that would provide educational, recreational, and social programs for children, youth, and the elderly. Church services were also permitted in those premises, and this ministry of compassion-evangelism proved to be an effective bridge for the gospel.
Since the children and youth were most accessible and interested in our programs and classes, they poured into our center and, one by one, discovered hope, forgiveness, and joy through faith in Christ. Their changed attitudes and behavior stirred interest in their families. Parents began visiting the center and sometimes even the church services. Our visitation in those homes was now welcome, and gradually parents and other relatives came to faith in Christ. It was the children who were a shining testimony to the adults, resulting in the salvation of many and the birth of a new church.
Calvary love in the life of a child often softens the resistance of busy parents and grandparents, drawing them to Christ. Scripture says that unless we are converted and become as little children, we will not enter the Kingdom of God. Children are a fresh and inspiring example to us. Let us invest in their lives and encourage them to be vibrant, enthusiastic witnesses for Christ.
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