No Greater thing

Among all the various ministries of the church, there is nothing greater or more important than children’s ministries. In fact, it would not be unreasonable to say that in this entire world there is no greater thing than leading children to the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and teaching them to walk in that truth. Dwight L. Moody, the great nineteenth century evangelist and founder of what became Moody Bible Institute, is purported to have said, “If I could relive my life, I would devote my entire ministry to reaching children for God!”

All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace. (Isaiah 54:13 NIV)

But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:14 ESV)

Real Life Community Church recently held our annual Vacation Bible School (VBS), like so many other churches across America. In this week-long event, children from various backgrounds throughout our community gathered for dinner, songs, activities, and Bible experiences. Every element of the week, from the lessons and music to the games and décor, pointed children toward the truth that when life around us gets wild, unpredictable, scary, or even hopeless, we can “TRUST JESUS!” From preschoolers to sixth graders, these young souls learned from the Bible, built relationships with each other and with trustworthy teens and adults, and had a lot of fun doing it. For many of them, this may have been their first meaningful interaction with Christ and His church.

At Real Life, we recognize the unspeakable importance of ministry to children. Each Sunday morning, dedicated teachers help children connect the reality of God to the realities they encounter in their daily living. These devoted ministers of God love the children under their care and invest in them for now and eternity. Our nursery, Kids’ Church, and VBS staff, along with our youth ministry staff, have a profound and God-glorifying impact.

No matter how impactful such a ministry is, however, it cannot replace the home as God’s primary means of raising up “godly offspring” for Himself (Malachi 2:15). The call to make disciples is a call to all who belong to Christ, not a program to be carried out by professionals or institutions. The church is not primarily a place or even an organization, but the Body of Christ, composed of those who are united to Him by faith. We are the church, whether gathered for worship, among the community, in the workplace, or with our own families. For that reason, we do the work of the church—to make disciples and teach them the ways of the Lord—not mainly in programs and gatherings, but through our relationships in every setting. The most central and vital setting is in the home.

Our purpose: Real Life Community Church exists to reflect the reality of Christ through relationships.

Our purpose statement is simply our way of expressing the purpose the Lord has established for His entire church, for every local church, and for every individual Christ-follower. We are to be His ambassadors in this world, making disciples as we go through our everyday lives, bringing glory to God by being set apart to Him and from the world. As we live our lives wholeheartedly for our Lord, we share with others the real life we have found in Him, display that life through authentic Christian living, and invite them to receive that same life by God’s grace through faith in Christ. Wherever we go and whatever we do, this is our purpose…our aim, our mission, our reason for being on the planet.

Moody came to recognize that there is no mission field so ripe and so prone to produce lasting fruit as children. There is no greater or more effective ministry in all of God’s church than ministry to children, and there is no greater or more effective minister to children than their own parents. For that reason, the church’s best role in that ministry is as a support to the family, never as a replacement for it.

Children rely on their parents for everything, so the term “dependent” is quite fitting. Apart from the coming together of the man and woman, the child does not exist, so children are dependent upon their parents for life itself in a very literal sense. The unborn baby depends entirely on its mother’s placenta for survival and growth. Infants cannot survive without the intervention and provision of their parents. And so it goes, until the children finally reach maturity and are able to become those on whom others depend.

As true as this is physically, it is likewise true in all other aspects of the child’s life. Every child will learn how to live life—how to think and reason and know, how to work and play and love—from the instruction and example of their parents. This is no less true when it comes to the reality of Christ and eternal matters. The instruction and example of mother and father will either foster or hinder their children in embracing the reality of Jesus Christ and the salvation He offers. The single most important job a parent has is the discipleship of their children. Nothing else ultimately matters.

This was the instruction God gave His people through Moses in Deuteronomy 6:4-7.

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 

The Apostle Paul echoed the idea in Ephesians 6:4. “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”

A child may accept or reject the teachings of the church as they grow older, but the things they learn at home—things both taught and caught—will have an indelible impact for a lifetime. Solomon expressed this wisdom in Proverbs 22:6 (ESV). “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

 There is no greater thing for church or parent than to lead a child to Christ and teach them to live wholeheartedly for Him by both instruction and example, but the church’s efforts must support, emphasize, and amplify the work of family discipleship at home. Let us work together to train up our children in the ways of the Lord, so that we prepare them to receive and respond to the Holy Spirit’s call. Their futures in this life and the next depend on all of us reflecting the reality of Christ through our relationships with them.