By Frank King

Our youth pastor Michael Cervantes stopped me in church recently to ask what I thought of the previous evening’s music service. He was impressed to see that all those who ministered that night were young people raised in our congregation.

They were kids who became disciples, and who are now an integral part of the next generation of Jesus’ Church.

Mike’s parents, Daniel and Cathy, were married in our congregation and discipled Mike, who married Priscilla – who was raised in our church by her parents Stuart and Teresa Reblin.

Over the last 35 years God has been faithful, not only to save new converts, but to call the children of those converts as part of the next generation church.

As I have been involved in Next Generation Ministries for over thirty years, Mike was excited to report this to me because he felt NGM had a part to play in passing the torch.

Well, although NGM’s hundreds of workers have done their best to see the miracle of a second generation church, the part we play is a small one.

The credit for those “kids” he saw ministering must first go to God, then to their parents, who discipled them from cradle to stage, and who continue to be part of the lives of these young disciples.

If you are a parent, you have a responsibility to minister to your child; to disciple and raise him or her up to claim a rightful inheritance as part of Jesus’ Church.

Soon the time will come: you will have raised that child from conception to adulthood, and will be ready to turn loose and let the lessons you have imparted be their guide through Christian adulthood.

On one hand, you will be excited to see adult actions and decisions being made by your kid, for whom not so long ago you changed diapers, patched boo-boos and administered spankings.

Now, as is the way in God’s creation, your child will be performing all those duties for another: your grandchild. How do we teach them to teach them? How can you be sure that the truth that is Jesus and His Church are passed on to the next generation?

An important but small part of that passing will take place in children’s ministries: Children’s Church, Sunday School, Little Lambs, Faith Roots and Young Servants classes. But these ministries can only supplement the primary teacher: you.

On average, we will teach your child for only about ten hours per month in the coming year. That is a total of 120 hours given all those ministries combined.

The world will teach them for nearly 4,000 hours. That means four thousand hours of friends, teachers, media and lessons of the world will overshadow the time they spend in formal ministry over the next twelve months.

The best news is that you can make up for all that influence by following the pattern given to us in Deuteronomy 6:7: “And thou shalt teach them [God’s words] diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”

God instructs us to teach our children whenever we are with them. Take advantage of the fact that you are (or you should be) with your children more than their friends, teachers and media. Use that time to teach.

Teach them when they get up in the morning, while you are sitting around, while driving to school or church, and when they go to bed at night.

Yes, NGM will help you with lesson plans, but you must be your child’s primary source of biblical truth.

So, what should you teach them?

Unless you turned to this article first (thanks, Mom), you have seen plenty of information so far in this issue of the Bullseye that is useful in ministering to your most important disciples.

The following is a preview of what Next Generation Ministries will be teaching your children in our myriad classes, meetings and services over the next few months.

You can find a copy of our lesson plan topics on the bulletin board outside the nursery, or ask Pat Seaman for a copy of your own. If you are reading this from someplace other than Tucson, e-mail us for a copy.

This will give you an opportunity to discuss each lesson with the children after it is taught; or better yet, include it in your family devotions the week before, so your children can come to children’s church with a good background for the Sunday lesson.

What we will teach over the next few months will flow from the book of John, chapters 13 – 17, which are central to Christianity because they are the very last words that Jesus spoke to His disciples prior to His death.

The context is The Last Supper; the Jewish celebration of Passover, when Jews commemorated God freeing His people from slavery in Egypt. Jesus was about to free the world from its sin by paying the price, dying, and rising from death to give His disciples and believers the power to overcome sin.

Jesus teaches some important lessons:

His key lesson is in John 16:33: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have   overcome the world.” This will be the memory verse for one portion of the lesson plan. Jesus’ goal here is to let the disciples know He desires peace for them.

Jesus’ warning is that the normal state of life is trouble (tribulation); Jesus’ comfort is that the disciples will be encouraged (of good cheer); Jesus’ promise is that He has overcome that troubled world.

When you teach your children this lesson, focus on the troubles they are working through. As adults it is easy for us to long for the simple days of our youth when we didn’t have to worry about taxes, rent and grocery money.

Remember, as trying as those issues are to you, your children have their own issues that are just as trying. Maybe their issues are more trying than yours if you are not showing them that Jesus has overcome.

After all this, Jesus prays: For Himself; For His disciples; for all believers (Yes, even you and me and our children).

The children should know: That Jesus helps us to overcome (not to avoid) our problems. God has given us tools to deal with the troubles: prayer; worship; the Church (NGM will focus on the Body of Christ).

The second week of April, NGM’s focus will change to the theme: How will it end? Once the children have had lessons on using God’s tools to overcome tribulation, we will bring them the wonderful hope of God’s eternal plan.

Jesus is coming back; the Church will be raptured; God will judge all; there will be no problems in heaven; we will be with Jesus forever.

Finally, as we approach Easter, we will teach the important lessons of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus: On Palm Sunday Jesus declared Himself to be King and Messiah;

Communion reminds us of what Jesus did for us; the story of the thief on the cross teaches us that no one is too bad for Jesus; Jesus died that we might live and His death paid the price of our sin in full; the resurrection means Jesus is alive and we can overcome sin and death!

All of these lessons are basic tenets of our faith. These are the truths that God commands us to “teach diligently” to our children.

If we do, and if Jesus tarries, another generation will rise up and claim its rightful place as the Church of Jesus Christ and your child could be one of those ministering to the Church.