It’s summer. This means that it is the time of Vacation Bible School, church camp, sports camps and other various activities put on by churches and organizations to keep children busy and to teach them something about God. This past week, I had the job of dropping off my little brother and sister at VBS and picking them up. It was fun to see their excitement and to see them laugh and play with the other kids, but it was disheartening when I went to ask them what they learned. It seemed to me as if they didn’t really retain any of the information that was presented to them.
Sometimes thinking of children’s ministries can make me a little cynical. I think of the many people I know who grew up in church only to go in a completely different direction as they grew older. How many Christians do I know that begin their testimonies with, “I accepted Jesus when I was five years old, but…” The truth is that the decisions that we make when we are five years old don’t always stick.
Considering these things, it is easy to want to write off children’s ministries altogether. If it doesn’t mean anything to them, why put in all of the effort? There are some churches who don’t have children’s programs at all, who focus only on the spiritual health of their adult congregations. This would be easier, right?
Fortunately, the easy solution is not always the correct one.
It is true that children do not completely understand what it means to be a Christian. Yet, in the Bible, Jesus tells us that we are to have faith like a child (Matthew 18:3.) This may be because children are quick to have faith. They do not have doubts and they do not have any problem believing in a supernatural God. I saw this firsthand when I was talking to my little brother Brandon last night. I told him that God loves him, that God protects him and that God created everything. He was amazed. He began to list all of the different things that God had created; he told me confidently that he didn’t have to worry about monsters anymore because God would protect him from them. He even started singing a song he had learned in VBS to express his love and appreciation for Jesus.
It didn’t take any convincing or months of inviting him to church for Brandon to believe in a God who loves him. This is an admirable kind of faith. Though he may go through times of doubt and wavering in his faith, he will always have this foundation.
When I start to become discouraged by people who have grown up in the church and who have later left their faith, I try to think of this joy that children from all different cultures and backgrounds express when they learn about the love of God. I try to think of the successes instead of the failures; after all, I was one of those kids who grew up in church, who grew up going to VBS, and though my faith hasn’t been perfect since then, it has been constant.
For the sake of the children and the sake of the Kingdom, I pray that we as the Church can continue to show the love of God to the next generation. Though at times it is discouraging and difficult, each of these little ones is precious to God and need to be shown his love.
