Kids Need Spine and Heart: The Outlook for Kids from Resilient Child Discipleship
Think of the kids in your church. These children we love will be the church of the year 2050.
Think of the kids in your church. These children we love will be the church of the year 2050.
As we prepare today’s kids to lead the church of 2050, what if we designed a new system that put each child on his or her own unique discipleship pathway?
One loving, caring adult engaged in the life of a child can dramatically increase a child’s long-term probability for success.
Are we talking about the systems of the past? Systems of the present? Or the systems we need to build the disciples who will lead the church of 2050?
Are we programming for the immediate, or prioritizing for the future?
As child disciple-makers, we need to step back and ask ourselves, “Is our current strategy and philosophy going to nurture and influence resilient disciples who will lead the church in the year 2050?”
As child disciple-makers, we need to step back and ask ourselves, “Is our current strategy and philosophy going to nurture and influence resilient disciples who will lead the church in the year 2050?”
This is why, though parents are important, even primary, in the spiritual direction and discipleship of their children, they are not “only” or even enough. Children may grow in the soil of their parents’ faith, but they need light and air and more.
Why is it that some kids experience adverse conditions, yet they get back up?
You are more important than you know. These children are growing up and soon will forget your name. But when they think of God’s love . . . to them it looks a lot like you.
Today’s church kids are growing up in both a secular and church culture which is unlike the cultures in which most adults grew up. More importantly, the culture kids are experiencing is unlike the ones that are to come.