Why Children's Ministry is Vital

 

“Children are the hands by which we take hold of heaven.”

                                                                 Henry Ward Beecher

 
This past week we had a fantastic time at our Kid’s Cooking Camp! We’re thankful to the many of you who invested your time, loaned appliances, or generously gave so we can invest in children’s ministries. We’re blessed to have a church family that’s committed to investing in the next generation!
  Our children/teen ministry is not just another program. Though it has sociological dimensions, our priority is on the spiritual and eternal. There are programs like Scouts, FFA, youth sports, dance teams, etc., that will help a young person develop character, but they won’t help a young person know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. We are committed to our programs being gospel driven. Our prayer and commitment are that the young people who attend our programs will have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, live more heavenly now and spend eternity in heaven.
  We’re continually looking for ways to increase our effectiveness with the next generation. We want to be a community of believers who serve today and plan for tomorrow. If today’s young people are to be the Christ-followers, church members and leaders in 2050, how do we help them get there? How should we change our thinking?
  The primary seasons of faith formation are during childhood and the teen years. Church researcher, George Barna’s studies concluded that spiritual beliefs are largely set by the time a person reaches thirteen. Research has found that among adults ages 18-29, the church dropout rate is 64%. If consistent church attendance has never been part of a child’s life during their formative years, it’s improbable it will be in adulthood. We want children to be prepared for this brief life and eternal life. To accomplish that, it’s vital that we spiritually develop the youth in our church family.
  We have a biblical mandate. We’re commanded to do this. The last words Jesus said before He ascended into heaven was that the business of the church is to make disciples. That means as parents, the young people that are given to us must be disciples. Parents are to share the gospel with their children so that they become Christ-followers and train them to be servants and leaders in the church. For the rest of us in the church family, some who’ve been walking with Christ for years, we have a responsibility to disciple younger folk. It’s a church family effort. That means serving the Lord in the nursery, Grace Kids, Amped and Grace Student Ministries.
  A critical factor of whether young people raised in the church stay in the church after they graduate in those post-high school years is that they had at least one friendship with an adult outside of their parents in the church. Relationships take time with each other to develop. We have a biblical mandate to befriend and invest our lives in young people for the Lord.  
  Our future depends on it. The hard facts are that if we don’t invest in young people today, our church won’t be here tomorrow. If we don’t raise up a younger generation of committed Christ-followers, who will worship the Lord, reach this community, lead and take the baton to keep running the Christian race in the future.
  A high percentage of churches in America are greying out. It’s a massive crisis. From a practical level, we must invest in the next generation. We must disciple younger leaders because they’re the ones who will make sure that Christ’s mission continues and is carried forward into the future.
  We need their energy. The message never changes yet the methods continually adapt. Young people bring freshness, excitement and energy to a church. The older generation needs that. They need our maturity. We need their energy. We need each other. We’re a family. A healthy family has grandparents, parents, and children, a church family models that.  
  Yet, to have that it takes older believers willing to take great risks and do the things that can be difficult like going to hard places and even enduring persecution. We need the passion of the younger generation, so it’s vital that we develop young believers and leaders in our church.
  Children model for us what it means to be a Christ-follower. They model for us what we often forget as “sophisticated” adults. Let me suggest four aspects of this.
  They remind us that to be a Christ-follower you must have absolute trust. Children trust others for everything—their food, their lodging, the arms of others who carry them. Regarding trust in God, the child’s ability to believe hasn’t been wounded by cruel deception or a cynical world. Those who receive the kingdom like a little child have the saving element of faith. They have belief plus trust. They believe in Jesus, but it’s more than a mind-belief—they trust Jesus for everything to do with salvation and life.
  They remind us that to be a Christ-follower you must have pure humility. Children don’t engage in the various forms of pride of adulthood. They’re not proud of their morality or virtues. A child doesn’t battle self-righteousness to come to Christ. A small child is free from the pride of knowledge. He has no education or degrees to pile up before the cross. Children are teachable. They receive the gospel without attempting to complicate or add to it. Because children have not developed the pride of adulthood, they readily repent. Little ones quickly cry over a wrong done. Their unseared consciences still have their powerful moral instruments intact. They’re miserable over their sins. Uncontaminated humility leaves a young soul open to receiving the greatest of gifts, the gift of salvation.
  They remind us that to be a Christ-follower you must have complete receptiveness. Children know how to receive a gift—they just take it. On their first birthday, they’re not sure what a gift is. As two-year-olds, if they have siblings, they understand well enough. By the time they’re three, they’re really into receptivity! The wrapping paper flies! As David Goodling explains: “A little child takes its food, its parents’ love and protection, because they are given, without beginning to think of whether it deserves them or whether it is important enough to merit such attention. So must we all receive God’s kingdom and enter into it.”
  They remind us that to be a Christ-follower you must have sincere love. Children easily return love for gifts. Enthusiastic hugs and kisses and multiple “Thanks” are showered on the giver. Spiritually, “we love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Total love is the province of those who receive the kingdom as little children.
  We’re privileged to share God’s truth with the next generation. We can each leave a heavenly legacy. Together let’s commit to raise the next generation of Christ-followers, servants and leaders for our future church. Christ-followers steadfast in their faith and passionate about spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth! That work needs to begin today.

Can we help you spiritually? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address.