I had been seduced
into believing the great myth of modern ministry: Adults are where the
Kingdom action is. (p. 12)
This group
(children in the 5-to-15-year-old age range), some 31 millions strong,
represents nearly half of the under-18-year-olds in the country. That's
almost equal to the population of the entire state of California.
(p.17)
In this book, I will
focus upon understanding and affecting the lives of children in the
heart of the youth cohort (i.e., children in the 5- to 12-year-old age
range). This group, some 31 million strong, represents nearly half of
the under-18-year-olds in the country. That's almost equal to the
population of the entire state of California. Why focus on this
particular slice of the youth market? Because if you want to shape a
person's life--whether you are most concerned about his or her moral,
spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional or economic development--it
is during these crucial eight years that lifelong habits, values,
beliefs and attitudes are formed. (p. 18)
A series of studies
we conducted regarding the age at which people accept Christ as their
Savior highlights the importance of having people in Jesus into their
heart as their Savior when they are young. We discovered that the
probability of someone embracing Jesus as hi or her Savior was 32
percent for those between the ages of 5 and 12; and 6 percent for people
19 or older. In other words, if people do not embrace Jesus Christ as
their Savior before they reach their teenage years, the chance of their
doing so at all is slim. (p. 34)
In other words, by
the age of 13, your spiritual identity is largely set in place. (p. 34)
A
large majority of young people believe that they know every major story
and principle on which the Christian faith is based, and thus they feel
secure in their understanding of Christianity. Consequently,
more than 2 out of every 3 13-year-olds argue that they are closed to
learning new biblical insights or correction regarding erroneous
perspectives. Second, we find an astounding level of consistency between
the religious beliefs of adults and children. This has two
implications. Initially, it suggests that whatever beliefs a person
embraces when he or she is young are not likely to change as the
individual ages. (This is a variation on the "first impressions die hard
theory.") (p. 37)
As you ponder how to
invest your personal resources of all types of time, money, experience,
ability, facilities, expertise and so on, keep in mind that there is no
better investment than nurturing our youngsters for an eternal
payback. (p. 42)
Having devoted more
than two decades of my life and all of my professional skills to
studying and working with ministries of all types, I am now convinced
that the greatest hope for the local church lies in raising godly
children. (p. 49)
Where is the
battlefront today? Is it to be found in the fight for the rights of the
unborn or the call to outlaw homosexual behavior? Does it lie within the
struggle to get adults to spend more than two hours per week at church
of the hope of getting people to read the Bible every day? Will it be
found at the heart of the culture wars, which pit biblical morality
against the garbage imbedded in a lot of the movies, television and
music to which we are exposed? Is the line in the sand drawn to separate
those who selfishly work to accumulate resources for personal pleasure
from those who seek to distribute resources more equitable?
No, I believe the battlefront is
found in the minds, hears and souls of our children. (p. 50)
Various
studies have confirmed the results of some of our data: By the age of
nine, most of the moral and spiritual foundations of a child are in
place. From the time a child is born until he or she is in the early
primary grades, the child is voraciously consuming cues and lessons
related to each of the developmental dimensions. It seems that by the
time he or she is nine; the child shifts mental gears and begins to use
the cues he or she receives from that point forward to either confirm or
challenge an existing perspective. It also appears that by the time the
child has reached this age, it is much more difficult to change an
existing view than to form a new view. (p. 58)
Our national surveys
have shown that while more than 4 out of 5 parents (85 percent) believe
they have the primary responsibility for the moral and spiritual
development of their children, more than two out of three of them
abdicate that responsibility to their church. (p. 78)
One of the lessons
that wiser parents than I have learned is to remember that God cares a
lot less about what we achieve that draws applause from the world, how
many consecutive profitable quarters we led the corporation to amass,
how clean and organized we kept our home or how many educational degrees
we piled up than how we raise our children. (p. 89)
Conducting this
research proved to be more difficult than expected for the following
reasons: (1)virtually every church has a children's ministry; (2)
families are a crucial segment of the population base for most churches;
and (3) almost every congregation asserts that ministry to young people
is an important aspect of its mission. However, when we examined what a
church does and how it evaluates the efficacy of its work, we found that
most churches simply go through the motions. (p. 97)
As a personal
observation, I believe that if the pastor does not include the ministry
to children as one of the top church priorities, the chance of that
ministry reaching its potential and having a significant impact on the
lives of the church's children is severely reduced. (p. 105)
There is no
perceived value to using shortcuts or saving money when investing in the
spiritual development of their children. (p. 116)
