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Children aren’t natural producers—or at least they don’t start out being productive. Human children are notoriously delayed in their development. If young parents had time to stop and think about it (which they generally don’t), they might realize that they haven’t made a great investment toward their material prosperity. Children need years before they contribute to the functions of a household. Churches sometimes do the same cynical math: Children don’t tithe or evangelize or teach or recruit. They do, however, require a lot of space and attention. That kind of thinking leads some churches to look at children as a necessary evil. Children’s ministry is merely a tool to get parents in the pew, because families just won’t come without programs.
Praise God that His kingdom is led by neither John Stuart Mill nor John Dewey. That is, we’re neither utilitarian nor pragmatic. Our King instructs us very clearly how to view children. Jesus tells His disciples, “Let the little children come to me” (Matt. 19:13–14; Mark 10:13–16; Luke 18:15–17). The Bible consistently presents a multigenerational, future-focused view of the body of believers. The Old Testament covenant foundation graciously includes children as children: “I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you” (Gen. 17:7, emphasis added throughout). This inclusion remains in the New Testament: “For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself” (Acts 2:39).
But we don’t only say that children belong in the community of the redeemed. The Holy Spirit further obligates us to labor for their faith. Before God’s judgment on Sodom, we read that Abraham was chosen so “that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord” (Gen. 18:19). God echoes the call through Moses in Deuteronomy 6:1–2 to keep the law so as to “fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son.” Verses 6–7 add: “These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children.” We also repeatedly find children present and obligated to be present in worship (Deut. 6:7; 2 Chron. 20:13; Ezra 10:1; Neh. 12:43; Joel 2:15–16). The New Testament confirms the place of children in various ministry situations (Matt. 21:15; Acts 21:3–6), and perhaps more importantly, New Testament Epistles address children directly. Paul echoes those Old Testament patterns in Ephesians 6:1–3 and Colossians 3:20, and John likewise distinguishes “children” from “young men” and “fathers” in 1 John 2:12–14. A biblical ministry ministers to children.
We should add that ministry to children isn’t merely ministering to small adults. The Bible has as many as two dozen different words for children and youth between the Old and New Testaments. Those various terms speak to different ages and stages of development, relations to adults, and capacities for learning. The Bible’s nuances suggest that we ought to be equally deliberate. Infants were brought to Jesus to be blessed by Him (Luke 18:15). As a twelve-year-old boy, Jesus sat with the rabbis (2:41–48). Young Eutychus stayed up (too late) listening to the Apostle Paul (Acts 20:7–11). The church fulfills this obligation by welcoming children into the assembly. In that sacred gathering, they both observe their parents’ worship and themselves worship and hear the preached Word. They are catechized (instructed) in the doctrines of our holy religion by parents and by the larger body in accordance with their capacities. They also enjoy the benefits of the ordinary fellowship expected by the multitude of “one another” commands in the New Testament.
Children’s and youth ministry is no modern invention. Reformed churches have pursued it since their beginning. Examples abound through the centuries of the church’s proactive efforts to labor for the faith of the congregation’s children. Consider John Calvin’s Genevan Catechism (1541) or the Heidelberg Catechism (1563), Richard Baxter’s or Wilhelmus à Brakel’s emphasis on the ministerial duty to catechize and encourage the catechizing of children (seventeenth century), John Quick’s Young Man’s Claim (a 1691 catechism related to the Lord’s Supper) or John Willison’s Young Communicant’s Catechism (early eighteenth century), Jonathan Edwards’ 1743 meetings with communicants, or Joseph Engles’ Catechism for Young Children (1840). These and many others testify to an intentionality of our forefathers to pursue the faith of the congregation’s children. In so doing, they affirm an optimism toward early conversion, a wisdom in later admission to communion, and an expectation for progressive spiritual maturation of the young in the local church.
Engaging in such efforts fully aligns with the biblical doctrine of the covenant. No extraordinary methods are needed to foster faith in young church members beyond Word, worship, prayer, and fellowship. Resources abound for Sunday school, catechesis, VBS, summer camps, and similar activities in appropriate venues. But as with all other pursuits of the congregation’s edification, workers are needed. Preaching requires pastors, corporate praise requires musicians, and children’s ministry requires those equipped to labor for children’s faith and obedience to Christ (because we don’t want them to remain as children; Eph. 4:11–16). We labor here as an essential good, not a necessary evil. The burden is God-given. He says in essence, “These are my children” (Ezek. 16:20–21), set apart to Him (1 Cor. 7:14). They are a stewardship entrusted to us for which we will give an account.