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Over on the Kidmin360 blog, Greg Baird has organized a series of essays on the future of children’s ministry. My contribution was just published and I hope you will take the time to check it out. There is also a follow-up forum on Kidology.
My Prediction
In the future, kidmin will be less effective at reaching children outside the church. Going forward, I am deeply concerned about un-churched kids in America.
I see at least five trends converging to kill the evangelistic impact of our ministry to children.
- There are less “Christian families” than in previous generations. That means fewer kids hearing about Jesus from their parents.
- As churches make family discipleship a priority, they are less focused on reaching un-churched kids than before.
- Smaller neighborhood churches are closing and the Christian population consolidates in fewer but larger congregations. This means less neighborhood based kids ministry.
- Evangelicals have become timid about calling people (including kids) to repent and believe the Gospel.
- American Christians are increasingly fuzzy on the Biblical elements of the Gospel and default to Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. This gets worse when teaching kids.
Some Key Quotes
My imagination often says more about me than it does the real world. These futuristic predictions likely expose my personal failings as much as they reveal what may happen in the future. Second, my outlook is conditioned by my narrow experience of children’s ministry.
Dr. Thom Rainer estimates that 85% of the Millennial generation is lost … these are young adults age 19-30, the parents in your ministry.
We can’t forget that Jesus loves our weird next-door neighbors just as much as he loves our own kids. If our focus is only on reaching kids within the church, then we are strategically ignoring the largest segment that needs the Gospel.
Popular Bible teaching in American is like eating at McDonald’s. Almost everyone can tolerate the food, but it’s not very good and usually not that healthy. Do you ever wonder why so many churches are sick?
What Do You Think?
I’d love to hear some feedback on this ideas. My predictions are a little on the sour side, but I’m concerned that all the trends are pointing toward less childhood conversions. If we really believe that Jesus loves kids, we ought to think carefully about these things. Click here to leave your comments.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
True enough—-in the Philippines, there are a few number of kids hearing about Jesus because even Christians today do not really work hard to proclaim Jesus as Lord. in our church, there are only a few of us who teach kids
I will be attending a meeting tonight to discuss childrens/youth ministry. The staff doesn’t feel childrens/youth ministry has impacted the majority of the kids. (They feel their babysitters)
The thought is to do away with these ministrys and disciple parents…so they will equip their children.
I believe the foundation needs to be layed in the home, but could it be the majority of these chuch members that are not saved?
Maybe they know about Christ but have never repented and do not personelly know him. If this is true, we have filled this building with false converts and a man centered christainty.
I believe childrens ministry/ youth ministry is vital, it is the church tomorrow. We must continue to teach these kids about SIN and a great Savior! Many people in this body have given of their time and talent with good intentions, yet most of their youth are not interested in the things of the LORD. They know little of God’s word and they look like the world.
I am providing you this information so that you have some idea of what has happened over the last 10 plus years. If you have some words of wisdom I’d be happy to share with a struggling flock.
@Dan: I would point you to this post I wrote, “Why Children’s Ministry Matters”
http://ministry-to-children.com/benefits/
Regarding #3, our church is mega-church size, but we have 3 campuses, plus 1 Saturday night service. The advantages are that we have all the resources of a big church, but the smaller campuses have a small church “feel.” This combination makes discipleship pretty effective (though, of course, we do have our challenges).
On the other side, we also need to look at how churches tend to fall short in the area of children’s ministry. My 2 big ones are Leadership Development and Curriculum, as I say here:
http://differentway4kids.blogspot.com/2010/11/how-churches-can-fall-short.html
Great article … although I have to say that our church is growing rapidly. What used to be a small church is now fast approaching a mega church. Not because of anything more than people looking for more than traditions (we have lots of Catholics converting). They are looking for a relationship with Christ and fellow believers. Just a thought.