Let the children come: A call to mission to, for and with children

The film “The Boy who Harnessed the Wind” has been on my Netflix suggestions for a while. Since it sounded like the kind of movie I should watch with my children, one Saturday two months ago we got to watch it.  The 2019 drama film is directed by and stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Maxwell Simba, who plays the part of William Kamkwamba, a 13-year-old Malawian boy who dreams of building a windmill from scrap metal to power a water pump that would irrigate farms in his village. However, his father does not believe in his vision, at first. He sees it as wasteful childhood fancy. The boy, undeterred, stays on course and is eventually able to build a windmill that saves the village from drought and famine.

When watching such a movie, you easily identify with a character. This time I identified with Trywell Kamkwamba, William’s dad, because — what do you mean you want to chop up a well-working bicycle? And to build what now?

Most of us have first-hand experiences of how children’s ideas and experiments can been the misery of parents. A slingshot competition that ends up in a hospital emergency room. A game of marbles (bano) that leaves you with a glass pane to replace. A bit of messing with a screwdriver and that’s the last you hear of your prized electronics.

Yet this film, psychology and the Bible, teach us that children have voices, viable ideas and solutions to problems. They are not little annoyances that just need to shut up and let adults do the problem solving. They are not merely helpless little babes who should only be passive receivers of adult care and teaching. They are active participants in the world, including in their own development (Brewster, 2011) and that of those around them.

Children in scripture

Remember the boy whose two fish and five little loaves of bread Jesus used to feed an entire evangelism crusade? Remember Miriam who came up with the brilliant idea of hiring Moses’ mother to raise Moses in Pharaoh’s palace? Then there is David, bold and brave, whom God used to deliver Israel from Philistines and to quieten King Saul’s demons. There’s Josiah whom at age 8 led a spiritual revival in Israel. And Naaman’s servant girl who saved a general; Jeremiah who was sent by God while still a child and Samuel, a little boy in an ephod, who hears God at a time in Israel when there is a famine of God’s word.

The Bible’s stories show us that God sees children, uses them and welcomes them into his kingdom. Does our culture see children the same way? Do we in our homes or as a nation believe children can provide solutions to problems plaguing us?

Dan Brewster in his book “Child, Church and Mission” observes that children are critical, not only because they are many and strategic but also because they are close to God’s heart and reflect his kingdom.

First, scripture is clear that children are gifts from God, he who opens and closes wombs. Marcia Bunge in her paper for the Now and Next Conference suggested that children are to be enjoyed and celebrated as blessings from God and sources of joy (Gen 3:20; Ps 127:3).

Second, God’s salvation is through a child – “for unto us a child is born” (Isa 9:6). Dan Brewster notes that it is significant that God came into the world not just as a child, but as a helpless infant who’s at risk – of genocide, a child born to a teenage mother, a child who becomes a political refugee and who grows up in occupied Judea.  

Third, Jesus chose children as models of God’s kingdom. Scottie May and others in the book “Children Matter: Celebrating their place in the church, family and community” observes that Jesus used the metaphor of child birth to illustrate how we enter relationship with God. “You must be born again,” Jesus told Nicodemus (Jn 3:3-6). Paul later reused the metaphor in Gal 4:19, saying he was again in the pains of childbirth for this church until Christ is formed in them. When Christ’s disciples were bickering about who is the greatest, Jesus took a child and placed him among them and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 18:1-3). When his disciples rebuked those who had brought their children to Jesus that he may place his hands on them, Jesus rebuked them saying the kingdom of heaven belonged to those who received it like little children (Mt 10:13-16). Welcoming little children was welcoming Jesus and the Father (Mk 9:36-37). Scottie explains that children make clear kingdom values and priorities. In Matthew 11:25 Jesus declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children”.

Peter later used the metaphor of new born babies to express how Christians should hunger for spiritual milk in order to grow 1 Pt 2:2

Fourth, Isaiah describes God’s kingdom as a safe place where the wolf lives with the lamb, the calf with the young lion, and a little child leads them (Isa 11:6).

Finally, God uses metaphors of parenthood to refer to his relationship with man. He’s a father, has compassion like a father, disciplines like a father, the spirit in us cries ‘Abba’, he has unconditional love and care like a mother.

Bunge explains that God’s word, far from being silent about children, platforms them as blessings from God but more importantly as members of his kingdom, models of kingdom life, agents in his mission and recipients of his mission as the weak, destitute, hungry, naked and orphans (Isa 1:17; Zech 7:10).

In fact, Brewster wants us to view children as an unreached people group that needs to be reached with the gospel.  They “are an enormous people group nearly two billion strong and growing. They are a suffering people group: 26,000 under 5 die every day. Children are an unwanted people group, as indicated by the appallingly high rates of abortion, and equally shocking problem of street children around the world. They are a victimized people group, often subject to trafficking, exploitation, and other forms of abuse. They are a receptive people group, and sadly, a forgotten people group as either objects of or agents for mission” (Pg 158).

God calls Children to himself (1 Sam 3:1-4:1a)

From the story of Samuel’s birth and commissioning, we can learn the following about God’s heart for children:

1. Children are gifts from God and they are each created for His purposes at their time. When Hannah was crying and praying that God would open her womb and give her a child (1 Sam 1), she had no idea that the answer to her prayer was about to be the answer to Israel’s prayer. Samuel may have looked delayed to Hannah who was barren a long time but he came at a time when the nation needed a godly and faithful leader. Children come at the right time, Brewster observes. If God sees them before they are formed in the womb (Ps 139) and in the womb, then no child is born at the wrong time. Then, the children we pray for, cuddle and canoodle ultimately do not belong to us – they belong to God, created for his own purposes. So in 1 Sam 1, God used a woman’s prayer for a child to accomplish his purposes in Israel – raise a priest who would prepare the nation for its king. Catherine Stonehouse in her book “Joining Children on the Spiritual Journey: Nurturing a Life of Faith” emphasizes that children have a calling to fulfill for God. This applies to all children including those from unwanted pregnancies, those born in destitute places, in war, on the streets, and those that suffer or that bring suffering.

2. Samuel was born at a time of spiritual drought in Israel, when everyone did as they saw fit (Judges 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25). Yet God raised the little boy to become one of Israel’s greatest judge, priest and prophet. Samuel’s mother Hannah had offered him to God and brought him into the temple at around age three to serve under Eli,  an elderly priest with dimmed physical and spiritual vision (1 Sam 3:1-4:1a). Eli’s own sons were scoundrels, useless men who had no regard for the Lord (1 Sam 2:12). God brings up an upright judge and priest at a time of spiritual drought and under a priest with spiritual blindness and deafness. Susan Greener in her article “Raising Samuel: Releasing Children to discover God’s Purpose” observes that from this story, the outcome of nurture is the work of the Holy Spirit and not dependent on adult perfection or biological relationship. Stonehouse calls this parental grace, where God uses everyday experiences between a parent/guardian and child to prepare a child for the life of faith.

3. Hannah and Eli did not think of Samuel as too young to minister to God. And neither did God, who later sends the boy Samuel with a heavy message for his mentor. From the call of Samuel, we see that God calls children to his mission and speaks to them.  Jesus himself said, “Let the children come to me—do not hinder them, for the kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these” (Matt 19:14).The Lausanne Consultation for Children at Risk met in Quito in 2014 and noted among other things that God chooses to work with any person precisely at the point of their development when God wishes. Therefore, no adult should second guess God’s time.

Susan Greener notes that in many churches, the greatest segregating demographic characteristic is age. “Children have little intergenerational interaction except as a cute sentimental presence for a Christmas program.” Greener further indicts: “When a church congregation grows too large for worship space, often, the first way to adapt is to remove children from the sanctuary to give adequate space for adults.” Do we truly recognize children as full members of God’s covenant community or do we treat them as partly developed people to be seen not heard, often hidden from church life? Greener challenges churches to deeply integrate children into the intergenerational family of God, allowing them to fully participate in worship and service to God within the church as Samuel did. Linda Wagener in a chapter titled “Hope for Every Generation” in the book “Understanding God’s Heart for Children” adds: “The local church must be a welcoming community committed to bringing children fully into the family life of the body. This is a reciprocal relationship where they receive and give according to their gifts.”

The Lausanne Consultation suggests three relationships that the church needs to have with children: We need to directly intervene and provide for the needs of children (Mission To )­; we need to speak and act on behalf of children (Mission For) and we need to work with children, in whichever stage of development, as partners in God’s mission (Missions With). God doesn’t overlook children. Jesus welcomed children, healed them, raised them from the dead, and used them as examples of his kingdom. Jesus in Matt 11 highlights the elusiveness of the kingdom for many, yet the receptivity of it by children.

Brewster in his book encourages adults to be ready to learn from children as the greatest example of a true kingdom citizen (pg111). Brestwer observes: “God was not hesitant to use children as His messengers or instruments seemingly when the task is so important it can’t be entrusted to adults. Perhaps God knows that children will not rob His glory. Perhaps He just knows they are listening.” On the same note, Pete Hohmann writes: Kids have a tremendous spiritual capacity. They can bring joy to God’s heart. They can hear and obey God. They can minister to others. However, children are dependent on adults to equip them to do these things. Our lack of vision for the spiritual capacity of children can cause us to do things that actually harm or stunt the spiritual growth of children.  We should not lose sight of the potential of the youth or discount their contribution, even when it is easier to look to the older and seemingly stronger people in our midst to accomplish God’s mission, challenges Karissa Glanville in “Raising Kids of Mission in the 21^st Century”.

4. If Eli had not been around to help Samuel discern God’s voice that night, we all can guess how many times God might have had to call the boy before he did 1+1. Samuel needed Eli to discern God’s voice. Glanville notes that Samuel was able to participate in the mission of God because of Eli’s coaching (1 Samuel 3: 19). Linda Wagener in “Hope for Every Generation” notes that children need to be embedded in relationships with adults who care about them and who model God’s love to children. Nurturing adults help build resilience in children, Wagener writes. Where families do not offer these, it is the prerogative of the church and community to ensure there are supportive relationships around children to bolster their development.

OneHope in their 2020 report on Global Youth Culture noted how critical it is for young people to have wise counsel from people who have been walking with Jesus for many years and can share from the maturity of their faith (pg15). Children learn through imitating people they admire and who love them.

D.A Lester in his book “Pastoral Care with Children in Crisis”, notes that school-age children need to be in awe of an adult who is beyond them in talent, power and authority. We can become these people to be admired by children by being kind, gentle, interested and genuine; trusted adults who give a listening ear and inspire. Dan Brewster advises that every child should know that there is at least one adult who is committed to them unconditionally (pg 122).

REFLECTING IT BACK

• Like Hannah, we need to hold our children with open arms because they do not really belong to us. Children belonged to God before they were ours and they shall belong to him after they have left our arms and homes.
• Samuel, despite his age, ministers before the Lord under Eli. Our children are not too young to be in God’s service and we need to have hearts and hands that release them and train them to do that.
• Like Eli, we may need to parent children that are not our own. We never know whom we are raising — a prophet, or pastor or may be a president. But we do our best with all children who cross our circle of influence.
• Eli had bungled his side of parenting with his children yet God entrusts him with Israel’s greatest judge. God is the first parent of our children and we should not get stuck when we feel inferior or unable to parent. The outcome of nurture is the work of the Holy Spirit. God will use even the child to parent us.
• God calls Samuel by name and gives him a difficult message for Eli and his family. God knows children’s names and their whereabouts. They are not nonentities or sub-humans. He can call children, even those on the margins – the very young, the orphans, the homeless, the refugee, the poor (Brewster, 2011) and he speaks to them and uses them for his Mission.

APPLYING IT

• How can we show we are grateful today for the children God has sent our way regardless of circumstances that brought them? Can we reflect this in our prayers and how we affirm our children? Is there a child dedication, birthday or rite of passage coming up that offers a special opportunity to celebrate your child?
• What will we do to enjoy our children more, rather than persevere their presence or see them as burdens and joy thieves?
• How do we raise children with the awareness that they are made in the image of God by God, precious to him, loved, sent by God, and useful to him? How do we teach them that God can call them and send them, even if they are small?
• Are our eyes open to see youth and children who are responding to God’s call that we may train them, disciple them and affirm them?  
• How does the awareness that we are raising children for God, not ourselves impact our time of waiting and how we parent once children come our way, whether biologically ours or not?
• Where do we need to repent attitudes that have viewed children as commodities, servants, retirement packages, trophies etc?
• How can we be encouraged by the story of Eli and Samuel when we feel like we do not measure up as parents?
• How can we stay encouraged by Samuel’s call and what God is doing in our children at a time and culture when we too feel surrounded by spiritual darkness?
• Which are the children has God put in our way for us to nurture or advocate for?
• Are we providing for the needs of children at risk? Are we defending the orphan and feeding the hungry and clothing the naked?
•  Are we willing to release our children to be full participants in God’s family – in our homes and in church and the community? How can we support them to be involved in prayer, worship, service, evangelism and other forms of ministry?
• Are we cognizant that children have something to teach us? Are we listening to them, learning from them, believing them, involving them in decisions that affect them, responding to their message, or are we ignoring them as spiritually inferior, little people who need to be seen not heard, forgetting they are full members of God’s community and deserving of human dignity and respect?
• How do we change and become more childlike?
• Are there ways we are hindering children from coming to Christ? Are our timings favoring children? Are our church systems and structures letting children come and making them feel welcome? Are the costs of our programs excluding some children? Are our locations and facilities safe and accessible to all children?
• Children too are created for communityand relationships, like us. Are our churches and home fellowships providing that community? Do we include children in church attendance figures? Do our programs and ministries include opportunities and tasks for children to participate?
• Since families are the first ring of defense for children, how can we strengthen families with tools and resources to nurture children?
• Are we willing to be an interested, genuine listening ear for children in our circle?
• Because God has placed families in the larger context of communities and nations, whom are we tugging along as our “village” to help raise our children, with shared values?

References

Brewster, D. (2011). Child, church and mission. Compassion International.

Bunge, M. (2011). Biblical Understanding of children and childhood: Resources for the Church and Mission Today. Now and Next Children’s Conference, Nairobi.

Greener, S. (2013). “Raising Samuel: Releasing children to discover God’s purpose” in Children & Youth as Partners in Mission, Eds. Brewster, D. & Baxter-Brown, J. 4/14 Window Missiology Conference.

Glanville, K. (2007). Raising Kids of Mission in the 21^st Century. In McConnell,D., Orona, J., & Stockley, P. (eds). Understanding God’s heart for children: Toward a biblical framework. Authentic.

Hohmann, P. (2004). Kids Making a Difference. Instant Publisher.

Lester, D. A. (1985). Pastoral care with children in crisis. The Westminster Press.

Lausanne Consultation on Children at Risk, Quito, Ecuador, November 17–19, 2014. (2017). Mission with Children at Risk (LOP 66). lausanne.org/content/lop/mission-children-risk-lop-66.

May, S. et al. (2005). Children matter: Celebrating their place in the church, family and community. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Newman, L.G. (2013). “Jesus, Children, Church and Mission” in Children & Youth as Partners in Mission, Eds. Brewster, D. & Baxter-Brown, J. 4/14 Window Missiology Conference.

OneHope. (January 2021). Global Youth Culture, Africa Report. www.globalyouthculture.net.

Stonehouse, C. (1998). Joining Children on the Spiritual Journey: Nurturing a Life of Faith (Bridgepoint Books). Baker Publishing Group.

Wagener, L. (2007). Hope for every generation. In McConnell,D., Orona, J., & Stockley, P. (eds). Understanding God’s heart for children: Toward a biblical framework. Authentic.

Wright, J. (1995). Healing the children of war: A handbook for ministry to children who have suffered deep traumas. (Ed) Kilbourn, P. MARC Publications.