We have all heard it said before, “They need to keep a better eye on their kids.”
“That child needs discipline, I bet he minds then.”
“Did they really just spank their child? Thats whats wrong with him.”
And if we are honest with ourselves most likely we have thought the same ourselves from time to time!
We have always had a decent size Sunday school attendance, but yesterday it hit me like a ton of bricks.
I looked out after we dismissed Sunday school, I watched as kids ran to their teachers and followed them to class, excited looks on their faces. After everything settled down again I looked up and what was once a full congregation was now just about half gone! It seems like our Sunday school makes half our attendance on Sunday mornings!
God then quickened my Spirit, and He said, “This is a sign of a healthy church.”
I didn’t quite understand at first I mean, nearly half the church was gone!
But then I saw smiles on new parents faces as they watched their happy children excited to learn about God, and I can’t say for sure, but ill bet it was taking their minds back to when they were kids going to Sunday school, how much fun they used to have, the love their teachers showed them.
Thats when God spoke to me again, these kids are one of the keys to a growing church, they are going to be the catalyst that catapult the church into revival mode. Their parents will be more and rooted for the sake of the kids as God deals with them on a more personal level.
look, Jesus himself said suffer not the little children, He placed emphases on how we must come as little children, oh what would happen if we got as excited about coming to church on a Sunday as much as kids do?
We all know the familiar scripture, “Train a child in a way that he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6
I believe that this does apply to parents, but what if we apply it to the church as well?
Allow me to put it like this, you want to find a way to make a new set of parents in the church mad, offend one of their children or upset one of them and that family will never come back. Now thats a hard pill to swallow.
My point is this as I close:
Love these kids, love their parents, get to know them, lead them by example in prayer and worship. Because if you think about it, that kid behind you might just be your pastor one day. That child on the other side of the church my just be a future music director. That little girl in the front crying, could be a Sunday school teacher one day.
BUT it won’t happen unless we love them and cherish them, for they are the future generation 😉