TELL A CHILD, TELL THE WORLD

This week as I was preparing the schedule and calendar plans for the last trimester of 2010, I checked the Prayer Week readings at the General Conference website, and in the process stumbled on our Children Ministry page. What impressed me was the special emphasis on ministering to our children.  The motto was expressed in the song by Kimberly Houliston “Children First”

Jesus said “suffer the children to come unto me and forbid them not”
So we have a duty to tell all children of Jesus love
Let’s not hold back on what we are to do
Jesus has a place for our children too.
Read them the Bible and teach them to pray
And make Jesus their best friend today

Chorus
We’ll put our children first and help them to grow

Put our children first and make sure they know

Jesus loves them so, wants to be their friend too

Put our children first at church at home and school
Put our children first in everything we do

We’ll put our children first ‘cause Jesus loves them too

There’ll be children teaching and children preaching of Jesus love

Using their gifts to share with the world the dreams of their hearts

While our children are the leaders of tomorrow

They can make a difference today

Empower this generation to tell all the nations

Jesus is coming back one day

Dear church family, are we doing so?  Are we putting our children first? Our Evangelism initiatives are guided by the motto “Tell the World” and we do it by telling our communities in which we live.  Today I invite you to think of children in our families.  Are we telling them our faith?  Do we have regular family worships?  Are we placing our children’s spiritual growth as a top priority on our budget, our schedule, our space?

As I visit with people in community, especially with those who used to fellowship with us in the 80s and 90s and then left, I see that the reason kids left because adults were occupied with other things, work, their own relationships, and spiritual edification of children was not prioritized right.  Let’s change things, and let’s make our children first.  Tell a child, and you will tell the world!