Leading Children through Action

It is clear to me that the book of James says it is up to us. In James chapter 2 we read, “What good is it if you have faith but do not have works?”

How can we expect young people, our children- God’s children, to be a part of the church, to grow in their faith, to have a saving relationship with God if we are not doing the work it takes to make this happen today.

What good is it to say, “oh things would be so much better of if young people came to church” or, “if only young people today had faith and morals” but we aren’t willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen. We aren’t willing to do whatever it takes to reach out, bring them in and help them.

We can complain about all of their behaviors, we can complain about their disrespect, we can complain about their absence from the church not to mention music, movies and other media but if we aren’t willing to be the agents of change nothing will be different. In his book Helping Our Children Grow in Faith, Robert Keely shares in his research that one of the key problems we have is “adults are not willing to work hard enough to make worship accessible for children.” In other words, we don’t want to sacrifice our wants, desires and conveniences to welcome the child.

I am convinced that our faith and our desires to pass that faith on to the next generation are absolutely dead and meaningless if we are not willing to take the action necessary to do something about it.

What about you? Are you doing whatever it takes to make sure the church you attend is wide open to the young in your community?

“So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”