Receiving One Such Child

And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, he said to them, "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me." Mark 9:37 ESV

Walter Brueggemann writes about "constituences of evangelism." I have come to think of these as the pre-churched (children that are part of the church but not yet members), the un-churched (those outside the church), and the de-churched (those that have left the church). I read a blog post by Art Rogers www.twelvewitnesses.com that is relevant to ministry to both the pre and de churched and highly recommed the short piece.

In the post titled, Leaving Church, pt 1, Rogers sites Joe Ball's (Kentucky Baptist Convention) insights into teenagers that walk away from church after High School graduation. He asserts -

80% are from families who are NOMINAL Christians
50% are from unchurched homes
20% are from from churched families whose members are pursuing personal relationships with God

Rogers gleaned some conclusions that are worth reading. It seems clear that the insights listed above also speak to the way we minister to the pre-churched and suggest the de-churched would not be as big of a challenge if we did a better job living the faith in front of our children. There is another issue here . Those children that come from totally unchurched homes and are active in the ministries of the church have a BETTER chance of remaining than those from nominal families. The kids we sometimes label as "drop offs" or "pick ups" have a good shot if we receive them as Christ. This should be ample reason to reach out to kids and teenagers even if their families never follow.

For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. Matthew 12:50 ESV