The church must make children a priority. Practical suggestions, thrilling testimony and inspirational reasoning combine to make this 'manifesto for children's work' compelling reading.
Hope is a precious gift. Daring to hope is a vital choice that parents, people and churches must make as we face the uncertainties of a new millennium.
It would be easy to be overwhelmed by a counsel of despair from the massed choirs of advisers, experts and media commentators, who reflect on society, our children and their future.
There is, it seems, a creeping inevitability about the decline of children attending church, growing crime rates among juveniles, the disruptions of the disrupted child, alienated by his or her broken home, the hyper-competitive nature of the playground clique and the relentless pressure of media dispensed visions of what it is to be fashionable.
Do we dare to say that a nation of children can be called back to the knowledge of a loving Father, the earthy human realities found in the life and work of His Son and the present day empowerment of the Holy Spirit?
Would we allow a mustard seed of faith to grow in our hearts that would grow into a belief that a nation can be transformed? It will, if we will have the patience to invest relentlessly, persistently and lovingly into the lives of a generation quite literally lost, with no map to guide them back to belief, hope and a relationship with God.
If our hope is to be more than a heroic yearning fading painfully into disappointment, we must have our own map or guidebook to the future of ministry to children.
As a parent, church leader and someone who works with children and children's workers, I need reference points, an underlying framework that will shape my thinking, visions and the plan that flow from them.
This book is built on one such framework, a seven-point declaration of intent. It's not a closed set of principles. We may have more to discover as the wisdom gained from everyday experiences accrues. But it's a place to start.
Contents
Introduction
A Declaration of Intent.
1 Why the church must make children a priority.
2 Equipping parents to pass on their faith.
3 Reconnection time - taking Christ to an unchurched generation.
4 Being salt and light in our schools.
5 Working together to reach a generation.
6 Releasing a sense of wonder.
7 Tender-hearted children.
Dave Roberts
Dave Roberts is part of the leadership team of Living Stones, an Eastbourne-based community church. He learned his writing craft as the editor of the then Alpha magazine and went on to edit Renewal. He has authored or contributed to seven books including a bestselling investigative overview of the 1994 'Toronto Blessing'.
He was one of the founders of the Children's Ministry conferences, which take place every year in Eastbourne. They have attracted 10,000 delegates since their inception in 1998 and helped spur similar conferences around the world.
|