By Wayne Jenkins, LBC Director of Evangelism and Church Growth
It was 1969 and I had just bought my first new car. My old car was a beat-up, 1953 Mercury. I bought the Mercury for $35 running and sold it for $50 not running.
To say the least, I was extremely proud of my new car — a Toyota that cost less than $2000. I babied it, washed it weekly and took great care of it.
One afternoon I was in my car in front of Louisiana College waiting for the light to change. I was glancing at leads given to me by the insurance company where I was working.
Suddenly, I heard the horrible crunch of sheet metal and I was jolted forward in my seat. I had rolled into the back of a school bus.
The wreck caused the hood of my new car to bend, angling awkwardly toward the ground. The bus had no damage. I became physically ill over the situation.
Recently I had another jolt, but one with eternal consequences. While studying the 2012 Baptism Statistics, I realized we had been slowly, yet consistently, creeping down in our children’s baptisms.
I discovered out of the 14,633 churches reporting in Louisiana, 778 did not baptize one child during the entire year. In addition, 905 churches did not baptize one youth.
These two stats accounted for our total loss in baptisms. In fact, most of our adult areas increased. I could only wish this was as minor as a bent hood. This was much worse.
Three things quickly ran through my mind. The first was that children are the most reachable of any age group.
The second was that not only are we failing to reach the lost world around us, some of our children are being raised as pagans in the very halls of our churches.
The third thing was a realization that if this was a financial issue in a local church with a consistent income decline of 40 percent, we would call an emergency meeting of the Finance Committee, the deacons and the church body.
When it comes to the eternal destination of our children and youth, it seems, our concern does not rise to an emergency level.
In fact, statistics bear out that many of us can go multiple years without baptizing even one child and it does not shock us enough to change anything.
Here are some suggestions for a pastor – any pastor, of any size church – to help affect children’s baptisms:
1. Model it. People need to hear your stories of sharing the Gospel with children. When you baptize a child then you have been a part of the evangelistic process, give a testimony of what happened.
2. Encourage others. When a child comes forward who has been witnessed to by a Sunday School Teacher, parents, or other worker, share their story. This will encourage not only them, but also others to share the Gospel.
3. Develop a strategy. Work with your children’s leaders in planning a strategy for reaching and baptizing children. Set goals, create action plans, and make assignments. Just remember, keep it simple.
4. Present the Gospel to kids. Once a year go to each class on a Sunday and share the Gospel. Use VBS as a time for you to communicate in the Worship Assembly, classes and one on one. In a small membership church, you could visit in every home of a family with a child and present the Gospel. This may be just one per month. Go to camp or on a retreat with the children and be the Bible Teacher. These are great opportunities to share.
5. Equip. Parents, grandparents, and children’s workers need to know how to recognize when God is dealing with a child and then how to share the Gospel with them.
6. Plan events. Quarterly, host evangelistic events with children in mind. Follow up on prospects and those who make decisions. Some ideas are:
VBS
Harvest Festival
Pastor’s Pals (4 special Sundays of Sunday School and Sermons)
Children’s Camp
Several Associations and the Louisiana Baptist Convention have camps with all the planning complete – you just enlist chaperones and children. Plan on going to the camp or retreat with the children.
When the Saints were in the Super Bowl, I was watching the game with several friends and co-workers. One of my friends was even more fun to watch than the game.
When the Saints had trouble making a touchdown, he constantly shouted at the television, “Somebody do something.”
The game was tight; then the miraculous happened. Tracey Porter, a cornerback for the Saints, made an interception and ran for a 74-yard touchdown – sealing the victory for New Orleans.
My friend ran around the room, jumped up on a chair and exclaimed, “Somebody did something!”
I hope at the end of this church year we can shout with great enthusiasm, “Somebody did something!”
I pray God will use your efforts to draw one more child into the kingdom of God. It will be the most valuable thing you do. It is a matter of eternal life and death.