What if youth and kids were really important?

"I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way."

How many times have you heard those words. Most of you started singing along. But isn't it sad that churches today can sing or say phrases just like this but never mean a word. How often do we say that our children are a priority? How often do we say that our youth are important to us?

Life would be so much easier if churches would just be honest. "We like kids and youth to be present in our church. They make us feel good, but we don't want to spend money on them or make decisions based on their needs because they're kids." Why can't we just say that our desires are completely selfish. We just want them to make us feel better about ourselves. So we force them to do things the way we've always done them. But wait, "it's 'our' church."

What would it look like if we, as leaders, planned, worshipped, and ministered with our youth and children as our top priority? Surely you remember what it was like to be sit in a worship service that wasn't designed for you? You must remember those feelings that church didn't feel like it was really for you? I know I do. But yet, here we are creating the same environment for our youth and children today.

God, create a desire in our church and her leaders to efficiently and effectively reach the students in our congregations.