October 12, 2020
by Reverend Dan on October 12, 2020"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
There are 76 million school aged children (K-12) in the United States. A recent survey says that 80% of those students will never attend church. Of those that do, less than 1% of them do it for the first time after they turn 13-years-old.
I wonder how the following statistics would change if some of those students were presented the gospel when they were small children.
- A child commits suicide every 3 hours and 33 minutes.
- A child is killed or injured with a gun every 39 minutes.
- A child is arrested every 31 seconds.
- A child is arrested for a drug offense every 5 minute.
- A child is arrested for a violent offense every 9 minutes.
- A baby is born to a teen mom every 3 minutes.
- A student drops out of school every 9 seconds.
- A student is suspended from school every 2 seconds.
Knowing all this, it is amazing how churches designate and distribute the money for child and youth programs. The vast majority of money is spent on student’s high school age. Which is great. I don’t have a problem with spending money for that ministry at all. But it’s also after most youth have veered off in the wrong direction. I’m not giving up on them, just making an observation.
Meanwhile, the elementary aged children in this country (just over 133,000 of them) are vastly underfunded, and yet that’s the time to reach them and get them grounded in the gospel; before the pressure of the world and their peers takes sway.
Well, what can we do Rev. Dan? Can’t take Jesus into the schools – that whole “separation of church and state” thing. Well, that is not entirely true. It is just rhetoric that is used to inflame passion and is fodder for extremist politics. In a landmark case in June 2001 (Good News Club v. Milford Central School District) the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Child Evangelism Fellowship, the complainant in the case, granting equal access to the public schools on the same basis as any other organization. And since that time, there have been over 6,000 Good News Clubs established across the country.
Does anyone have any idea what it takes to start one of these “Good News Clubs”? Volunteers. They provide the rest. Research of schools, curriculum, everything. All they need are people interested in getting to these kids before the world does. If you’re interested, contact me at urcpastor@gmail.com. I’ll be glad to share how simple it is and how it has impacted families and lives.
