Let The “Little Children” Come To Me!

When Jesus saw what was happening, he became indignant with his disciples and said to them, “Let all the little children come to me and never hinder them! Don’t you know that God’s kingdom exists for such as these?

Recently, members of our GoChurch family have been taking part in the KUEST Student Leadership course, hosted by Pastor Tom Toney of Family Life Church in Marion, OH. During this course, we have been learning about the importance of our children coming to know Jesus from a young age.

We read George Barna’s book “Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions,” which revealed that 32% of people accept Jesus between the ages of 5-12, 4% accept Jesus between 13-18, and 6% accept Christ aged 19 and over. If people do not embrace Jesus as their savior before they reach 13 years of age, the chances of them doing so are slim.

This data further highlights the importance of investing in children, since their moral and spiritual viewpoint is set by age 9. After this age, it is very difficult to change an existing viewpoint or form a new one in a child’s life.

No wonder Jesus was so upset when the disciples kept the children away from Him. When He said those words, He realized the significance of them coming to Him! He knew that this window of time is so short, and proves that we should focus our resources, efforts, and time on children.

Children are a precious gift from God – they are His most precious treasure, and He loves them deeply. When all of us at GoChurch take the time to invest our time, talents, and resources in children, we are investing directly into Jesus Himself, according to Matthew 18:1-5.

To make the most significant impact in our world, we must follow Jesus' example by investing in people when they are young. When we do this, our children can grow into whole and healthy individuals with strong spiritual foundations that will last them a lifetime.