Last week, I met with a leader at Awana Clubs (where Crossroads has its office) who shares a passion for children's evangelism. He told me that he had examined the schedule of workshops from top children's ministry conferences (like CPC and Orange) one year and discovered that out of hundreds of workshops, fewer than five had to do with evangelism. This is a sad state of affairs for the church in North America when we take into consideration that about 85% of all people who come to Christ do so by the age of 14 and that about 50–70% of children raised in church walk away from the church. So, if we lose half or more of the kids inside the church and we fail to reach children outside of our churches, what does that mean for the future of the church in our nation?
I think that one of the reasons we don't see more children's evangelism from churches is that children's pastors and directors tend to be strong nurturers. This is excellent and Christ-like. Jesus mourned like a mother hen over Jerusalem and welcomed little children with open arms. Clearly, he was a nurturer. However, Jesus also had a strong sense of mission and a prophetic spirit that could correct and rebuke ("Get behind me, Satan!"). The point is that I think we need to cultivate more balance between a strong sense of mission (coupled with a prophetic voice) and healthy nurturing. Kids need both. Churches need both. And if we want to be advancing the kingdom of God, we need to see both the nurturing and missional aspects of children's ministry held up in high esteem.
What other reasons do you see that children's ministries tend to become very inwardly focused?
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