the DEADLINE

Did you know that you are serving in an area that has a deadline?

In children's ministry, the average deadline for a child to come to Christ is before the age of 18.

Yes...you read that correctly...age 18.  

When children are younger, their hearts are normally more open and receptive to the Gospel.  Maybe that's why Jesus said to have "heart of a child when you come to Him."     

That is my story.  I came to Christ when I was 6-years-old.  I remember running to the altar under conviction and falling on my knees and inviting Jesus to come into my life.  It was very real to me then and has continued to change my life over the years and to this day.

The older a person gets, the harder it is for them to come to Jesus.  A person's heart becomes hard and they become set in their ways.  Over time, they develop a heart of stone that is harder to break through.  

Yes...people can come to Christ after the age of 18, but the percentage is much, much more challenging. 

This is why we must be intentional and diligent to help kids understand the Gospel.  Speaking of the Gospel, we should be consistently sharing the Gospel with kids. 18 will come so quickly.  Before the blink of an eye, the children will be leaving your care.  

If you need a tool to share the Gospel clearly with kids, then I would recommend Starting Point.  It's a one-time class that helps kids step across the line of faith. 

You can get more information about this class at this link.  Using this class, in one year I saw over 430 children get baptized along with dozens of parents.  Just this past weekend, we saw 10 children and 3 parents baptized who went through this class.  

I often tell parents and volunteers...our responsibility is not to push kids into making a decision.  It is also not to hold kids back.  Our role is to walk aside our children and have Gospel conversations.  As we do this, God will draw them to Himself.  

Just remember...the clock is ticking...we must reach them while we can.  

Keeping this in mind,, we must be faithful to share the Gospel for this approaching deadline.