“We will not hide them from their children, Telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done. That the generation to come might know them, The children who would be born, That they may arise and declare them to their children.” Psalm 78:4,6.

We need to be effective in reaching the next generation for Jesus. Many churches do not make an impact on the next generation, because they have wrong thinking about youth and children’s ministry.

Some see ministry to the next generation as just taking care of kids so that parents can receive ministry – like a baby sitting service. Others think it is just providing activities to keep them busy. For some it is just a place to develop your gifts and abilities before you can minister to adults.

These are all side benefits, but not the purpose of ministry to the next generation. The purpose of youth and children’s ministry is preparing the next generation to serve God’s purpose in their generation.

There are three things we can do to be more effective in ministry to the next generation as local churches:

1. We should equip and resource our youth and children’s ministry leaders to be effective in making disciples of the next generation. There are some good resources available in the United Kingdom like Energise by Urban Saints and Light Live by Scripture Union.
2. We can support, encourage and equip parents to “train up a children in the way they should go, so even when they are old they will not depart from it” Proverbs 22:6. An excellent course you can use to do this in your local church is The Parenting Course hosted by Nicky & Sila Lee.
3. Our local churches must always be a safe place for children and young people. With the help of organisations like the Churches Child Protection Advisory Service, we can adopt and implement a Child Protection Policy and ensure that all our youth and children’s ministry leaders are CRB checked.

Our children are living messages we will send into a future generation that we will not see. We can impact the next generation for Jesus!