Chapter Three: Why Kids Matter

Book: Transforming Children Into Spiritual Champions Chapter Three - Why Kids Matter In this chapter, Barna sets for his argument as to why kids should be a priority in a church's ministry. His first argument is the children matter to God.

• Children are a gift from God
• Adults receive special blessings through their children
• Children are desirable
• Children need to be taught how to think and act in relation to God and His ways
• To have a fruitful relationship with God, children must be taught to obey Him
• Children as so valuable to God that He commands us to protect them
• God wants to have a genuine relationship with His children
• God enjoys the nature and personality of children.

Completing his argument is the statement, "If children matter this much to God, then they should matter as much to us too." pg 45 Personally, I have never worked at or attended a church that would so brazenly say that children's ministry didn't matter. However, I think was Barna is arguing for is that children should be looked at more as a primary area of ministry rather than seeing it as taking care of the children while mom and dad are learning about God. Reflections of this thinking could be seen in the quality of what we offer our children as well as the funding and resources we commit to a children's ministry.

Barna makes a compelling augment, "Anyone who wishes to have significant influence on the development of a person's moral and spiritual foundations had better exert that influence while the person is still open-minded and impressionable -- in other words, while the person is till young. By waiting until a person is in his or her late adolescent or teenage years, the nature of influential attempts must be significantly different, because the spiritual foundation has already been formed and integrated into a person's life." pg 47

He follows this up with an interesting thought, "You simply cannot raise a child to be a compliant workhorse and then expect him or her to turnaround and become a majestic thoroughbred when he or she is older." pg 49

In closing this chapter, Barna states the he believes the spiritual battlefront today is found in the minds, hearts and souls of our children. pg 50 At this point, Barna has made a compelling case for a either an evaluation or reevaluation of any churches ministry to children. He has convinced me that it must be a priority -- not merely an afterthought. But the question I believe -- I hope -- he will answer in the subsequent chapters is how this ministry should look -- what this ministry should contain -- and what should be the objectives of a children's ministry.

I have been challenged personally to not look at children's ministry simply as an afterthought - but rather an intentional ministry of investment that may pay great dividends far into future generations.