We had 15 children the first week of a new inner-city school club. Five children prayed to receive Christ as Savior! That day, I was made aware of children wanting to go to church, but their parents choose not to go to any church.
One of our club volunteers said to me that their family would be willing to bring one little girl and her brother to church. When this volunteer spoke to the mother about it … the little girl said, “Mama, even if you don’t want to go to church, I want to go to church with them!”
In the other family, another club volunteer was talking with the mother of a girl who wanted to go to church. The mother said she has 4 children and this girl is her youngest. She always is talking about God and wanting to go to church. The mother went on to say she doesn’t go to church, but sometimes she lets her little girl go with the grandmother when she is able to go.
Parents have their reasons, but it is sad when children want to go to church. We not only need to reach the children, but we must reach the families. It is our prayer that the ‘adopting churches’ of our school-related clubs will do careful and important follow-up with unchurched children in our clubs.
At that club that day, I had the privilege of counseling an 8 year old girl, I will call her Tajah, for salvation. In the middle of our counseling time, Tajah broke down and wept. She was so overwhelmed by what Jesus did for her on the cross. I began to cry, too, because the Lord reminded me that even though I have been saved for many years, how easy it is ‘to forget’ what a high price was paid by my Savior for my sin.