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Conference "The pastor's role in Children's Ministry" Part 1: Biblical and theological foundations for Children's ministry
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(Teaching for the Association of Evangelical Pastors in Cusco, Peru, March 20, 2002) ..... - - > (Index)

	The forgotten potential for church growth The principles shared below are not just another "specialty" which one could add to the church or omit from it according to personal taste. Because when they are omitted, a large majority of people who could be part of the church, will stay outside! This is what actually happens in may churches. We are losing 85% of our potential for growth.
	WHY ?
According to a publication of the "US Center for World Missions", 85% of all people worldwide who decide to accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour, are between 4 and 14 years old. Other studies observed that: In the US, 90% of all pastors and missionaries got to know the Lord while they were children, and had a responsibility in church while they were children. The Christian churches lose more children of Christian parents, than they gain new converts by means of evangelistic efforts. (In other words: Churches would grow more if they suspended all evangelistic events completely, and instead focused on evangelizing their own children.)
On the other hand I observed, at least in Cusco, that the Christian churches are not aware of this potential. Generally they invest very little or nothing in ministring to children and teenagers, compared with other areas of the church.
	These are some results of an inquiry in 19 churches in Cusco, in 2001: Only three of these churches have leaders capable of training new Sunday School teachers. Two churches do not realize any work with children at all. 10 churches do not organize any training for their children's teachers. The churches who do minister to children, spend an average of 20 cents of a dollar per child per month. This equals about 2 to 3% of the church's total budget; but children represent 32% of all church attendants. (In Cusco, 44% of the population are younger than 15 years. This means that the churches are not even reaching all the children of their own members!) In 5 churches, there is no communication between the pastor and the Sunday School director; in 4 other churches there are only sporadical consultations. This signals that the pastors are not very interested in the children's ministry of their churches.

Children are the most open for the Gospel, but the less reached with the Gospel.

In continuation, we will study some of the most important Biblical passages which speak about children, and about our duty towards them. In this study, I would like to let speak, in the first place, the Biblical text itself, and reduce my commentaries to a minimum. In the following studies we will then look at some consequences of these principles, regarding the practice and organization of the church.

INDEX

Part 1: Biblical and theological foundations for Children's ministry

The forgotten potential for Church Growth
Children are very important to the Lord
Children need Salvation
Are children "innocent"?
The commandment to evangelize children
The commandment to teach children
The commandment to correct children
The commandment to respect and encourage children
The commandment to let children participate in our experiences with God
The commandment to intercede for children
The father as priest of his house (family)
God's purpose and calling in the life of a child

Part 2: The pastor as promoter and facilitator of Children's ministry

Part 3: Strategies for the development of Children's ministry

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Children are very important to the Lord

Genesis 18:18-19: "... Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him."
Abraham is blessed because he taught his children the way of the Lord.

Numbers 14:30-32: "Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home ... As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. "
God promises the Land to the children. They will be able to win the battle which the adults lost for their lack of faith.

Matthew 11:25-26: "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure."
Children can understand the Gospel. This understanding does not depend on their intelligence or their human education, but it depends on God who reveals the Truth.

Matthew 18:5-6: "And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea."
Jesus identifies with children. He says that the way we treat a little child, that same way we treat Himself.

Mark 10:15: "I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."
The child is the example how to receive the kingdom of God. In the same simple way they can receive the Lord, we also should receive Him.

1 Cor.1:26-29: "Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him."
Children are often looked upon as weak, ignorant, despised ... but God chose them.

Are children "innocent"?
There are many churches, even among those who desire to build strictly upon the Word of God, who do not take into account the principles mentioned above (maybe because they seem to be very "hard teaching"?) So they teach that little children are innocent, without sin, and that they start to be sinners only when they reach a determined "age of accountability". At first sight, this seems reasonable. But when we teach that children are innocent, we enter in conflict with some fundamental truths of Scripture:
- We would deny the effect of original sin on all mankind (Rom.3:23, 5:12).
- We would deny that faith in Christ is the only way to Salvation (John 14:6, Mark 16:16).
- We would teach that Salvation can be lost: If we state that children are innocent and therefore are saved, then we would have to teach that in some moment in their lives they start to sin and get lost. This is in conflict with John 5:24 and 10:28-29 where the Lord says that a saved person will not get lost again. - When a Christian rejects his salvation by his own will, then we would have to speak of the terrible case described in Hebr.6:4-6, of which it says that it will not be possible to repent again. Consequently, we would have to treat every adult unbeliever as an apostate without hope for restoration. Such an opinion, of course, would be cruel and absurd; but it is the logical consequence of the teaching that little children are innocent.

Some expositors maintain that verses such as Romans 3:23 cannot be applied to children because they do not yet have knowledge of the Word of God and therefore cannot sin deliberately. They say: "How can God judge somebody who has not had the opportunity to know His will?" - This same argument is also brought forward against missions among unreached peoples: "How can we say that God will judge the pagans, if they did not even have the opportunity to hear the Gospel?" (So it would be better never to preach to them, since they would be saved while they do not hear the Gospel.) If the European Christians of the past centuries would have followed this argument, today there would not be a single Christian church in Peru (nor in Africa or Asia).
The book of Romans itself answers this argument: "...since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. " (Rom.1:19-20)
(Two verses which seem to say the contrary):
There are two Biblical passages which are sometimes misinterpreted in order to teach that it is not necessary to evangelize children. In continuation we will give the correct interpretation according to their context:
Mark 10:14-15: "Let the little children come to me, ... for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." This is sometimes interpreted as if the children were already in the kingdom of God. But this is not what it says: the children need to come to Christ in order to receive the Kingdom, for this is what verse 15 says. While they do not come nor receive it, they are not yet inside the Kingdom. (What it does say, is that it is much easier for a child to receive the Kingdom than it is for an adult person.)
1 Cor. 7:14: "For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy." Does this mean that the children of Christian parents are automatically saved? - The word "holy" or "sanctified" means "separated, put apart for God" or also "legitimate according to the Word of God". (In 1 Tim.4:5 it applies to food which can be eaten legitimately.) The children of believing parents are under a special blessing and protection of God (Psalm 115:14, 128:3-6, Ex.20:5-6). But this verse does not speak about eternal Salvation. The same word ("Holy" and "sanctified" is the same word in the Greek original) is applied also to the unbelieving spouse. So if we want to interpret this verse in the way that children of Christian parents are automatically saved, we would have to teach also that the unbelieving husband of a Christian wife is automatically saved. It is clear that this contradicts Biblical teaching (see verse 16).
- The context shows that the question answered here was: Should a Christian get divorced from his/her unbelieving spouse? Paul answers: No, the unbelief of the spouse does not invalidate the marriage; the marriage is "sanctified" (legitimate before God) even in this case. If it were not so, they would have to separate themselves also from their unbelieving children; but now their children are "holy" (legitimate children before God, even if they are not believers).

The commandment to evangelize children

Mark 16:15-16 "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation ..."
This includes all mankind, without any limit of age.
Matthew 18:11-14 We talked already above about the parable of the lost sheep. - God does not want any child to get lost; therefore we must look for them and evangelize them.
Caution: We must never manipulate nor compel children. Making collective "calls to Salvation" will lead to many "pseudo-decisions".

It is NECESSARY to talk personally with every child who manifests the desire to give his/her life to Jesus, in order to make sure that the child understands what he/she is doing and that he/she is doing it by his/her own will.

John 16:8-11: "When he (the Holy Spirit) comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. "
An essental ingredient in conversion is the conviction of sin. A child who is not convicted of his/her own sin and the necessity of forgiveness, is not ready to convert. (The same applies to adults!) - In this regard also, there is no age limit. Conviction is the work of the Holy Spirit and does not depend on the intellectual or psychological capacities of the child. There are four year old children who are more aware of their sin than many adults. When a child converts as a fruit of this work of the Holy Spirit in him/her, this conversion is equally real and lasting as the conversion of an adult.

The commandment to teach children

- for the parents:
Dtn.6:6-9: "These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."
The first ones to teach the children are their parents. This is a command of supreme importance, since it is the immediate continuation of the "Great Command": "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. " (Dtn. 6:4-5). In fact, it is thanks to their obedience to this command that the Jewish people maintained their identity as a nation, in spite of being dispersed among all nations for more than 1800 years. This commandment, that parents teach the Word of God to their children, has also many consecuences for the structure of the church, which have been realized very little so far.
Psalm 78:5-8: "He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children,
so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born,
and they in turn would tell their children.
Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds,
but would keep his commands.
They would not be like their forefathers-- a stubborn and rebellious generation,
whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him. ..."
When the children are not taught the Word of God, they too will become "a stubborn and rebellious generation".

- for the leaders of the congregation:
Dtn.31:12-13 "Assemble the people - men, women and children, and the foreigners living in your towns - so they can listen and learn to fear the LORD your God ... Their children, who do not know this law, must hear it and learn to fear the LORD your God as long as you live in the land ... "
The second person whose duty is to teach the children, is the leader of God's people. The children are included in the congregation, in the same way as the men and women.

- in general:
Prov.22:6: "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. "
This verse shows us, in a general way, the principle that childhood is the best age to receive teaching. When we teach children, we can expect much better results than when teaching adults.

Note: School is not a Biblical mandate. The civil government does not have any mandate to teach children. When a school teacher assumes part of a child's education, he/she does it as a person "commissioned by the parents", not as a governmental authority. It is very important for us as Christians to recover this Biblical perspective, in the face of the strong tendencies in some countries to monopolize the education of children by the State.

The commandment to correct children

1 Sam.2:29-30: "Why do you honor your sons more than me ...? ... Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained. " - 1 Sam. 3:11-14: "... For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons made themselves contemptible, and he failed to restrain them."
Eli is judged by God because he did not correct his sons. As a father, he was responsible not only for teaching them, but also for correcting them when they were doing evil.
Prov. 29:15.17: "The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother. ... Discipline your son, and he will give you peace; he will bring delight to your soul. " (See also Prov. 22:15, Eph. 6:4b).
Many parents make the mistake of yielding always to the will of their little children ("they are so young, they do not understand yet ..."), and later on they try to correct their rebellious teenagers with too drastical measures. [This is true at least in Preu; it might or might not apply to other cultures.] But it is the other way round: Little children should learn to live according to the rules as soon as they are capable of manifesting their own will. Teenagers, on the other hand, should most of the time be given the opportunity to learn by means of their own experiences and their own faults.

The commandment to respect and encourage children

The duty of correcting never excludes respectful behaviour! Respect is mutual: in the same way we expect that our children respect us as parents, teachers, etc, we also should show respect towards them.

Matthew 18:5-6: "And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea."
Jesus identifies with children. He says that the way we treat a little child, that same way we treat Himself.
Mat.18:10: "See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. "
Looking down on children and despising them is one of the ways we show disrespect towards them. Children are humans of the same value and dignity as adults.
Col.3:21: "Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. "
Sadly, many children are discouraged by the way they are treated by their parents (or by other people).
Eph.6:4: "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. "
In this verse we have the synthesis of the two principles mentioned. A wise father or mother will discover the way of leading and correcting their children in a manner that does not "exasperate" them, but encourages them to go forward; that does not destroy their self-esteem, but edifies them. Such a style of education will reflect what God the Father showed us in His own person: the supreme authority, combined with the supreme love. Educating a child in this way is a difficult art, and probably nobody will master it perfectly - but exactly for this reason we need to dedicate much time and effort in order to learn it. There is possibly no better "image" of God on this earth than a good father.

The commandment to let children participate in our experiences with God

Psalm 102:17-18: "He (God) will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea. Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the LORD."
When God is doing something in our lives, the children should be part of this experience. This way they will learn to praise the Lord for the real experiences they made with Him, not only for the old stories they hear.
The best place to learn this is, once more, the family. When parents and children pray together for daddy's work, their aunt's health, the children's homework ... then there will always be opportunities to point out to the children: "Look, God has answered our prayers. Let's praise Him together!"

The commandment to intercede for children

Lam. 2:19: "Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin;
pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord.
Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children,
who faint from hunger at the head of every street. "
Children are generally the weakest members of society. Therefore they are those who need the most protection, both materially and spiritually. With our intercession we build a wall of spiritual protection around the children.

The father as priest of his house (family)

Joshua 24:15: "... But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."
Joshua commits himself, not only to serve the Lord individually, but also to lead his whole family in the Lord's service.
Ex. 12:21-27: " ... Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. ... And when your children ask you, 'What does this ceremony mean to you?', then tell them, 'It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt ..."
The Passover, from the beginnings, was celebrated in families. One of the children had to start the conversation with a question, and the father had to answer by teaching his family and leading the ceremony.
Acts 2:46: "... they broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, ..."
The Lord's Supper (= the continuation of the Passover) was celebrated in the homes (families).
Acts 5:42, 16:40, Rom.16:5, 16:23, 1 Cor.16:19, Col.4:15: The church gathered in homes (= in families, including the children).

The following verses show that according to the Biblical purpose, the human father is to reflect what God is as a Father:
Matthew 7:9-11: "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! "
Eph. 3:14-15: "For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family (literally: fatherhood) in heaven and on earth derives its name. "
Hebr. 12:7-9: "... Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! "

God's purpose and calling in the life of a child

Jer.1:5-7: " 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.' - 'Ah, Sovereign LORD,' I said, 'I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.' - But the LORD said to me, 'Do not say, `I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.' "
God's calling on the life of Jeremiah was determined before he was born, and began to manifest itself at an early age in his life.
Psalm 139:14-17: "... When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. "
For every person, God has an established purpose even before birth. This means that every child, in this very moment, has already a unique and personal calling from God on his/her life. But how far will this calling be fulfilled in the life of a particular child? The answer depends much on us who teach and train this child.

God can use believing children in His work
Examples: Samuel (1 Sam.3), David (1 Sam.17:34-37), the girl who served Naaman (2 Kings 5:2-4), Josiah (2 Chron.34:1-4), Jeremiah (Jer.1:5-7), Daniel (Dan.1:3-21).
Acts 2:17: "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. "
Children can receive the Holy Spirit and His gifts.
-> Acts 21:8-9: "... He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied. "
Since in that culture girls were married at a very early age, at least the younger ones of these four daughters must have been children.
Psalm 8:2 / Matthew 21:16: "From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. "
The praise of children is a powerful spiritual weapon.
John 6:8-9: "Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, 'Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?' "
Andrew's comment - "how far will they go among so many?" - reflects the attitude of many leaders who despise a child's contribution. A child who prays, who sings a song, who shares his/her testimony, who helps another child ... will not do it with the same "religious words" as an adult; will possibly become nervous or shy and will not do it in a "perfect" way. So we tend to think of the contribution of a child as something very small. - But the Lord's reaction was very different: He received the child's small gift, gave thanks for it, and used it to feed more than 5000 people. The most insignificant (from our point of view) contribution of a child can be multiplied in the hands of the Lord and produce a great miracle.

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