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Connecting Kids To God
Think about this – can you think of a person mentioned in the scriptures who had a God encounter, and then rebelled against God?
Years ago, as a Children’s Pastor at a church, I heard a story about one of the kids I used to pastor. He was a good kid. He knew the memory verse every week; was the kid I could always call on and he knew the answer; came from a good family. But when he became a teenager he turned away from God.
It grieved my heart when I heard this. It wasn’t the first time something like that had happened. Can you think of kids you know that have grown up in church and are now not in church – worse yet, not serving God?
Think where the church would be today if every child that was born in the church were still serving God? If we hadn’t lost one, where would we be? We’d be much stronger than we are today.
I began to pray, and asked the Lord, “Why is it that a child can grow up in church, come from a good family, do everything that he’s supposed to do, and when he becomes a teenager, he can turn from you?”
(I mean, it really shouldn’t happen. The Bible says clearly, “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he’s old he will not depart.” So how come so many of our children are departing?!)
When I have poured my life into someone, I have done it because I believed it would work. I preached the Bible every single week to this kid, I believed he would serve God.
I said, “Why God, why does this happen?” This is what He said to me: “One reason is that many kids have never really had an experience with Me.” The honest truth is that they don’t know that God is real, and that He is powerful. They know that He was powerful a long time ago, but they don’t know that He’s powerful today. What if we could raise up an entire generation that had God encounters? Has that ever happened, where an entire generation served the Lord?
Let’s look at Judges 2:7,10 —
“The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord that He did for Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died being 110 years old. And they buried him…. Also, all that generation was gathered unto their fathers and there arose another generation after them which knew not the Lord nor yet the works of the Lord which He had done for Israel, and the children of Israel did evil in the sight of God and served Baal.”
Think about it — Joshua’s entire generation served the Lord. Then the generation that immediately followed Joshua’s generation backslid. Why? They didn’t see anything. All they had were stories.
Have we thought if we just tell the kids the Bible stories, they’re going to serve God. The church has done that for centuries! We’ve got to tell them the Bible stories, but they’ve got to know God for themselves! We have to lead them into God encounters.
Chris Hodges, pastor of Church of the Highlands says it like this, “My job is to connect you to God in a powerful way then the Holy Spirit can speak to you.”
What are ways that you have used to connect your kids with God?
Praise and worship. Helping them by leading them to the fountain; the well that never runs dry. i often speak to them about the living waters inside their belly.. Waiting during times of worship to hear from God. At times, He has words for the kids, or He wants them to receive whatever they need in the atmosphere of worship. I expect God to show up; I press into Him to hear His voice for direction and instruction. He is faithful. A couple of weeks ago I asked God to show up with His fire. I had just come back from a minister’s conference, so I was more hungry and thirsty to see Him move for the children. He did, and the fire fell and almost everyone went out under the power and the Holy Spirit ministered to even the workers. i asked the children later what they saw, while they were under and the responses were cool. One girl said, God told her to tell a girl about heaven.
Wow. That is refreshing to hear Jeanne. Thanks for sharing. Debbie
I have a real struggle with this. I don’t know how to connect the kids with God. I understand that they need their own encounter with God, so that they can develop their relationship. But how do get them to understand the importance of it. We have praise and worship, they do fine on the praise part but during worship sometimes there is a disconnect. It seems their love for God is not there. And I don’t know how to help the kids see that God wants them and wants to be in their lives. Some Sundays God’s presence is so strong and on others it’s like did He even hear us. I want consistency, I want to see growth in our youth!!
Hi Vanessa, I just read your post, and I understand. There is a lack of hunger in our kids at times, but we, as leaders must continue to press, and expect God to show up. Always have an expectancy, no matter what’s going on. Don’t allow disrespect to the Holy Spirit who is God among the children. I’ve been known to say, we will honor God-He is in this place. Confront and speak the truth in love. Even children are known by their ways. I am paraphrasing and there is a scripture for that in Proverbs. But before even this can happen, we, teachers and workers must be seeking God, and fellowship with the Holy Spirit, asking Him for wisdom, and continue, even when we don’t see results. Taking time to be quiet and just listen helps our children too. I have shut it all down before, music and media, and just listened for the next step. Children are so wound up when they come to church due to the increase of social media, and their surroundings. I hope I’ve helped some. Keep me posted. Thanks for letting me comment, Mark and Debra.
I’m also teaching Mark’s Leadership classes to a few of my children on a Thursday night, and believing that will help them grow in God also. I highly recommend the curriculum to children’s pastors and teachers.