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Jesus was moved with compassion as He saw the throngs of people wandering about aimlessly like sheep without a shepherd. They were burdened with problems, sicknesses, and life's dilemmas. It inspired Him to say:
The harvest is so great, and the workers are so few...so pray to the one in charge of the harvesting, and ask him to recruit more workers for his harvest fields.
(Matt. 9:37-38)
Since then, multiplied thousands of Christian men and women have gone about the task of bringing in the lost. But present day prophets proclaim there is still a harvest coming into the church in unprecedented numbers, a sovereign move of God that will surpass anything we've ever seen.

Imagine if our individual church attendances were to double overnight. What would we do? How would we handle the increase? Now consider this—what would we do if the increase was made up primarily of kids and teenagers?

Is that ridiculous or far-fetched? It would be interesting to know how many children were in the crowd that Jesus was studying, especially since families were so much larger in those days.

Kids Are One-Third of the World's Population

The U.S. Census Bureau reveals that there is a population of over six billion people worldwide. Almost 40 percent of that number is made up of people under the age of nineteen.

At this moment, one-third of the world's population is under the age of fourteen! In some countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ethiopia, and many more, the population under nineteen reaches over 50 percent.

Kids under the age of fourteen make up more than 40 percent of the people in those countries. In a handful of nations such as the Marshal Islands, Mozambique, Nigeria, Swaziland, Tanzania and others, those age groups increase to a staggering 60 percent under nineteen, and over fifty percent under fourteen.

Uganda holds the world record with kids under the age of nineteen, who make up 62 percent of their population. Fifty-one percent are under fourteen years of age.

Missionary friends of mine that travel extensively report that especially in third world countries, six out of ten of the people that come to their outdoor services are children.

Yet, for the most part, people who minister overseas go completely unprepared to deal with those kids. It's hard for us in the United States to really grasp the significance of this young population because, with a greater ability to control the size of our families, we don't see those disproportionate numbers here.

But in the light of this great harvest coming, it is not at all unreasonable to expect a massive influx of children and teens to come into the church as well. What will we do with them? How will they be received?

That's a high maintenance, low-income crowd, with very unique problems and needs all their own. No doubt when Jesus called for laborers for the harvest of souls, he knew there would need to be a very special group of laborers just for the children.

The first half of Matthew 18 is actually a discussion about children, including the parable of the lost sheep. For generations preachers have told how the good shepherd left the ninety and nine and went looking for that one little stray, commenting on how valuable just one lost soul is to our heavenly Father.

But in all the times I personally have heard it proclaimed, I've never heard anyone explain here that Jesus was talking about the value of the soul of a child. He said, "Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish." (Matt. 18:14 NKJ).

Of course, a lost adult has just as much value to our Lord and Savior, but this parable was originally applied to children. Yet, even though it has changed a great deal, it's no secret that most churches still have a shortage of workers in their children's ministries.

Matthew 13:3-8 talks about the different types of ground that represent people's hearts. It speaks of the stony, thorny, and parched ground. At the end, it speaks of good ground.

There are always exceptions to any rule, but if we were to ask, which of these types of soil would generally represent the hearts of adults? It would most likely be the stony, thorny, and parched. Which one would more commonly represent the heart of a child? In most cases, it would be the good ground--the soft, pliable heart that has not been nearly as damaged and bruised by life.

The Word says,
And He called a little child to Himself and put him in the midst of them, And said, Truly I say to you, unless you repent (change, turn about) and become like little children [trusting, lowly, loving, forgiving], you can never enter the kingdom of heaven [at all]. ( Matt. 18:2-3 AMP)

When Jesus proclaimed that we all need to come as little children in order to enter the kingdom of heaven, He was speaking to us grownups about an attitude of heart.

He knew that when people reach adulthood, they no longer trust, love, or forgive as easily, nor is humbleness and lowliness as common a characteristic. But it is in childhood. A child doesn't have to try as hard to believe, love, or forgive. He just does it naturally.

You could conclude, then, that childhood is the time that God planned for people to become born again, especially when the scripture in Luke 18:16 says, "...Allow the little children to come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such [as these] belongs the kingdom of God" (AMP). That's the time when people are the most receptive to receiving the gospel.

The Barna Research Group, LTD confirms what the Bible tells us. Their surveys claim that out of all those who become born again, 32 percent get saved while under the age of thirteen.

Only 4 percent become Christians in their teen years. Once adulthood is reached, only 6 percent ever come to Christ. (Barna Research Group LTD, Ministries Today, March/April 2000, pg 10).

Kids In Ministry International
All rights reserved. Used by permission.

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