As we continue our consideration of the book Total Church, in chapter 12 they address ministering to children and young people. I thought the chapter was excellent on why the need for prioritizing ministry to these age groups is important. But they don’t encourage a typical evangelical feel for ministry. The authors seek to use the same Scriptural, community-centered approach that ministers to others: letting God’s Word speak to these ones of their need for the Gospel then incarnating Christ to them through genuine community and encouraging their involvement in community. In a day when age-graded divisions are seen as the norm, the insight in this chapter was fresh.

Here’s their summary from p.190:

We have a simple rule of thumb in our church: if we would do this as family, we can do it as church; if we would not do this as family, why do it as church? This is not intended to cover every possible eventuality, but it has proved useful in maintaining a church life that is refreshingly simple and uncluttered, with space for relationships and front-line evangelism. But these pragmatic benefits are only favorable consequences; the principle of church as family is primary. Mutual responsibility between the generations is normative for family life and the way in which values are transmitted. Should that not be normative in the church also? As those relationships develop and grow over the years, and as the child moves into adolescence, the strength of those intergenerational friendships can be powerful means of grace. In the purposes of God they can be ways of keeping the young adult from becoming one among the hundreds who leave our churches each week never to return.

Is this not a compelling picture of what God intended the church to be? Let’s honor God and relate to those who aren’t the same age as us.