DISCIPLE CHILDREN TODAY FOR TOMORROW (*ROB HOSKINS)

God sees children as incredibly important. For better or worse, so does the rest of the world.

A few years ago, I attended a Fortune 500 conference. The theme insisted that to make your brand successful, you have to make sure it’s ingrained in children by the time they are eight years old. The brand didn’t matter; it could be Apple or Nike or Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Any brand that you want to sell to adults 15 years from now must be instilled in children growing up right now. The bottom line: branding a product in the mind of a child equals gaining a consumer for life.

The same principle applies in the spiritual world. For years, the American Church has anecdotally accepted the statistic that 80% of adult Christians had made their decision for Christ prior to age 18. This motivated American believers to present the Gospel to what appeared to be the most fertile mission field — children and teens.

71% of America’s believers chose Christ between the ages of four and fourteen. Some put that figure even lower.

What we understand today is that the window for reaching children and youth with the Gospel has narrowed considerably. The 4/14 Movement has concluded that some 71% of America’s believers chose Christ between the ages of four and fourteen. Some put that figure even lower. Read more here…Download the full report here.