Reaching children and youth is not about curriculum, programs, techniques or retreats. It's about being involved with God in shaping the spiritual destinies of young people and teaching them how to live in this confused, busy world.
As we begin now to consider the soil of our future, the youth themselves, I'd like to take a moment to remind you of the tremendous potential and influence we have in reaching them. Ministry to children and youth is the most powerfully effective tool available to anyone. Of course, I'm prejudiced. I suppose every area of ministry could communicate the reasons for their ministry's importance over all others. There is something to be said, though, about the unique potential of children and youth ministry. We don't have to deal with so many walls which the people to whom we minister have built up in defense of their past fears or patterns of living. Our goal is without walls and within view.
Obviously, today's young people are different from the child 10 years ago. Today's second grader is aware of the world on a level that you and I were in junior high. Regardless of that fact, Jesus himself said that children were to be examples for us. I think that means fewer walls, less guilt, less pain, more innocence. Studies have shown that over 80 percent of the Christians today made that commitment prior to age 14. What a great area of ministry.
Ministry to young people today is more than just passing on Bible stories. It's about effecting change in the lives of the children and youth who then have a powerful influence in the home and at school.

No longer are the majority of our adults "church parents" who bring their children to church to reinforce what they are teaching them at home.
The majority of today's young people come to us out of desperation and need. The home is not the place it used to be. Concepts like consistency, commitment, faithfulness, security, and truth are fading from our homes. The church is now the "final frontier" for values that we once thought of as accepted or commonplace. The young people are becoming the missionaries to their own homes. No longer are the young people coming to church with wide-eyed anticipation of how the Sunday morning experience will further the life lessons they regularly get at home.
Those who serve the children and youth must view themselves as perhaps the only voice of God in the lives of some young people. There may be exceptions to this condition, but if we use this viewpoint as our foundation, we will not neglect those for whom it is true. I believe that those young people who do receive Godly education and spiritual nurture at home will benefit from the refresher course they receive on Sundays. It is now time for us to go back into our city and our church and reach the unreached and unevangelized children and youth for the advancement of the gospel.
"We hold in our hands their destiny. We determine largely whether they fail or succeed. What they are today, the world of tomorrow will be. The time to reach young people is now."

o Ricardo Miller Children's Ministries works alongside ministries in evangelizing children, empowering parents and training children's ministry workers.

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