Should we add a new Gospel bead?
Annemarie Rivers riffing on the necessity of the local church
One of my hopes for The Child in God’s Church is that it will spark new ideas and grounded application in the wider field of Children’s Ministry and, most importantly, in the local church. My (now ex-) colleague at Youthworks Ministry Support, Annemarie Rivers, has done exactly that. Picking up on one small thread of my argument on the necessity of the local church in the life of a Christian, Annemarie has wondered whether we ought to add the church to the “Jesus Beads”, a common gospel presentation for young people.
Here’s what I wrote in the book.
Consider a typical gospel presentation that you know—perhaps the Roman Road, Two Ways to Live or the gospel colours. In the evangelical world, such gospel presentations tend to follow a well-rehearsed formula: creation, sin, judgement, salvation, resurrection and then new creation.
Different denominations or theological traditions may highlight some aspects more than others. For example, some groups may focus more on either the relational or legal framings of the gospel problem and solution, or perhaps on different atonement theories and their specific implications. However, I trust that those coming from a broadly evangelical background will resonate with the key movements of this gospel story.
In most presentations of this kind, however, there is one glaring omission: the church. We tend to portray the gospel story in an individualistic way. We highlight having a personal relationship with Jesus and leave until later any explanation of Christ’s bride and the people of God that a Christian now belongs to: ‘In our typical gospel presentations, we introduce God’s family only as a sort of utilitarian afterthought—church is there to help us grow in our newfound faith’. [Hellerman]
However, when we read the Bible, what we see in both the Old and New Testaments is the importance of the group.
Below is Annemarie’s further thoughts on these, first published at Youthworks.net on 20th Feb, 2025, © Youthworks.
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Should we add a new Gospel bead?
by Annemarie Rivers, Children’s Ministry & Primary SRE Advisor for the Western region
Have you taught your kids how to share the good news with gospel beads? Perhaps you had them when you were a child or teen, or perhaps you’ve seen them being used.
The version I learned had green for creation, black for sin, red for Jesus’ death, white for resurrection/new life and yellow for heaven. A quick Google search will reveal a multiplicity of variations.
It’s a great way to equip young people to share their faith. It’s simple, memorable… and wearable. There’s the benefit of clarity on what the good news is, as well as (hopefully) new confidence in talking about it with others.
In his new book, The Child in God’s Church (2025)1, Tim Beilharz makes the point that we are missing a bead.2 There is something missing in our gospel outlines—the church. When we are saved, we become part of the body of Christ with a contribution to make (1 Cor 12:7, 27). Perhaps we should have a bead that explicitly reminds us that salvation involves becoming part of something bigger than ourselves, a bead that represents becoming part of the family of God.
But how essential is that really? It’s worth asking as there are probably many more things we could include in our gospel summaries that would be true and helpful additions.
Tim quotes Hellerman with the insight,
‘In our typical gospel presentations, we introduce God’s family only as a sort of utilitarian afterthought – church is there to help us grow in our newfound faith.’3 (Hellerman, 2009, cited in Beilharz, 2025).
But the church is so much more than that. Tim writes,
‘Church is essential for the life of the believers, not as an added extra on top of salvation but as a necessary sign of, and participation in, salvation.’4
Further, in a society that elevates the individual and encourages consumerism, a healthy view of the importance of church as something we belong and contribute to is something we really want to encourage in young disciples.
This is worth reflecting on. What’s your understanding of the importance of church? How does this influence the way you disciple the young people in your care?
Many of our churches in Sydney are struggling to respond well to fluctuating and declining attendance. It makes the challenge of shepherding and discipling young people even more difficult when they miss one week out of every three. Now is a great time to be discussing in our leadership teams how we talk about the importance of church with theological depth and faithfulness.
And if you’re planning to teach gospel beads this year, it may be worth including an extra bead for church. I don’t love the colour orange, but it’s often the colour for Harmony Day in public schools. Perhaps appropriating orange to represent a different kind of social harmony isn’t a bad idea.
Beilharz, T. (2025) The Child in God’s Church. Youthworks Media.
Tim shared that the idea was first raised by Graham Stanton at a conference in 2009.
Joseph Hellerman (2009) When the Church was a Family, p 123 cited in Beilharz (2025) p.30
Beilharz, p.31