Discipleship Isn't Just for Grown-ups

Having just finished a wonderful holiday with family, I am reminded about the importance of childrens ministry. It seems that every holiday we have a grown-up table and a kids table. You know the kids table. Its the card table away from the main dining table. If we could, I would include all the kids at the grown-up table, but the table and the room just arent big enough. Fortunately, after the meal, we welcome the kids back to the main table for family time, fun and games.

Sometimes this is a picture of how we view discipleship in the Church. If we arent careful we develop a grown-up discipleship table and a kids discipleship table. We put the fine linen on the adult table and the paper covering on the kids table.

The great commission compels us to make disciples of all nations or people without regard to age. For the past 15 years Christian researcher George Barna has been calling the Church to intentionally focus on the discipleship of children and youth. From his research, Barna concluded that the moral development of children is complete by age nine. If this is truly the case we need to place our best resources into the hands of parents and teachers who most influence these children. Barna states:

Christian families, Christian schools, and Christian churches would be wise to invest more effort and tangible resources into helping young people understand and adopt the core ideas of Christianity, and to reinforce those c ...