Years ago when I started out in ministry, I worked with young people. I directed a summer youth camp and conference program during my seminary days and after graduation. What a thrill it was to see some of the young people come to know Jesus Christ. As I travel throughout the country, I sometimes run into some those now grown children. I think of a man who is now the pastor of a huge mega-church in the north. We spent time together during his teen years in the church as well as in camp and conference settings. I am glad to have had the privilege of working with and teaching him the Word. 

I once pastored a church in the Atlanta area where I had, in earlier years, led a Young Life Club. Some of the teenagers in the clubs had grown up and were members of that church. The senior pastor with whom I worked then had a placard in his office that read, “No man stands so tall as when he stoops to help a child.” What a truism and how consistent with the Scripture!

Another man, who was in charge of placement at my seminary said to me once, “Don’t spend so much time with the calves, that you forget the cows that give the milk.” I’ll never forget that statement either. During my years as a pastor, I always made it a point to work with the young people. They matter to me. One reason I left the mainline church to help start the PCA was to communicate to the younger generation that truth matters, and that we care for them. I was never more serious than when I said I wanted them to have a church home that teaches a Christian world and life view.

Our role at CE&P is to train, equip, and serve as an encourager and resource to those involved in ministry to the younger generations. We develop curriculum, conduct training workshops, and everything else that we can do to challenge them to reach this younger generation. We have full time staff members, as well as regional trainers committed to helping you and your churches plan and implement an effective ministry that communicates to your younger generation that you really care. Programs are not the only focus. We emphasize the most important elements of all, which are personal relationships and a sense of community. The younger generation wants and needs relationships with older committed Christians.  

This past year we added a full time coordinator of children’s ministry, Sue Jakes. Sue previously worked with our Sunday school curriculum publisher, Great Commission Publications. In her lead article you will see something of her heart, as well as ours, regarding children. Reaching this next generation has always been a God-given assignment to the church. As we look around us today, especially since Sept. 11, that assignment has taken on a new urgency. We are living in a dangerous world politically, economically, morally and spiritually.

Both postmodernism and the growth of neo-paganism in America remind us that we are not exposing our younger generations to the truth of God in a life transforming way. According to demographers such as Barna, we are raising a biblically illiterate generation of young people in America. While local and national leaders are discouraging things like Bible reading and prayer in the educational systems, they are allowing other religions, such as Islam, to have their privileges. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world and America, and has targeted young people. One statistic shows that around eighty percent of Muslim converts have had some kind of church background. Muslims appear to be better prepared to talk about Islam and the Muslim faith than Christians are about our God and faith.

In his book on Christian education, Christly Gestures, author Brett P. Webb-Mitchell talks about the importance of baptism in the education process of making disciples. He writes, “We perform the gesture of many profound vows at our baptism. The crucial ones in the education of Christians are the ones uttered for the child by parents or guardians and the ones uttered by the adult being baptized, and the gestured utterance of the members of the congregation—that they will raise the newly baptized into what John Calvin would call an ‘understanding of our baptism.’” I believe if we took this ministry to the younger generation seriously, there would be more young people who do not abandon the church in their teens and later life. We would have more adults who are excited about their Christian faith because they are sharing it with the next generation.

With that in mind, I encourage you to read the lead article carefully and respond to the questions for discussion. The “In Case You’re Asked” section illustrates another opportunity to minister to this younger generation through Christian schooling. You will also see several news articles about some things that we are doing at CE&P and the PCA to minister to the rising generation. The book reviews are important, especially the one dealing with Islam. You will also find a listing of the various conferences and seminars that CE&P will be conducting. They are listed both for your information and prayers. 

We are here with our training, resources, and consulting to assist you in developing, expanding, or improving your ministry to the next generation. We need to work together in this task. The challenge is more than any one person, church, or denomination can do, but if we work together, pray, be intentional, and know the situation, I believe we can be a part of the solution and not a continuation of the problem. By the way, that is the only way that our church, the PCA, and your church locally, or you as an individual will see the long range implications and applications of this challenge.

Enjoy this issue and please take it seriously.

- Charles Dunahoo

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