TUMMY RINGS & INTERCESSION
By Becky Fischer

Last year, my cousin, Marilyn and her family invited a large group of people to their home for Thanksgiving. Among them was a family from South Africa with a little girl about six-years- old, and other guests included some unsaved friends of one of their sons.

As my cousin sat down to relax after dinner, the little South African child crawled into her lap. Just then, one of the unsaved teenage girls walked past them sporting a tummy ring beneath her shirt. The little child immediately whispered to Marilyn, "I don't like that tummy ring," to which my cousin responded, "I don't like it much either." "I don't think God likes it either," said the youngster. "Well, honey, I don't know if God likes it or not," the gentle woman said quietly." But I do know that she doesn't have a mommy and a daddy to tell her about Jesus, to help her to know right from wrong, and how to follow God."

Marilyn reported that instantly the child doubled over in her lap, and began to sob. "What's the matter? Are you crying for Tanya?" She nodded, and continued for several more minutes in what was clearly a type of intercession for the lost teenager.

Hungry for a Compelling Experience

It greatly moved me to hear about the sensitivity of this little girl to the nudging of the Holy Spirit, and I couldn't help but well up with the desire to see hundreds of thousands of children trained to hear and respond to the voice of God while they are still little, just as this child had been. I was reminded of the vast numbers of Christian parents and church leaders who do not seem to see their children as spiritual beings beyond the need of salvation. While loving, dedicated Christian parents diligently train their children to wash the dishes, make their beds, and brush their teeth, and do their home work, too often it never occurs to them to give equal time training their children to tell others about Jesus, intercede for the nations, or how to hear the voice of their Shepherd.

To me this concept of waiting until children are older to engage them in the affairs of the Holy Spirit is sad. I believe the vast majority of children's ministers across the nation would affirm that if we do not create an interest and hunger in the twelve and under age group before they hit their teen years, it will be highly unlikely they would develop it later on. Giving them a steady diet of Bible stories alone is not going to create that hunger, or interest in the Lord. They need powerful experiences with God to entice them to stay in the church, much less in an on-going relationship with Him.

According to new studies by the Barna Research organization in their book "Real Teens" by George Barna (Regal Books, 2001), "Teenagers patronize churches and other event-oriented organizations because they are seeking a compelling experience..." What more compelling of an experience can therebe than a genuine encounter with a supernatural God? But we're taking great risks if we wait to give them these compelling experiences until they are teens, because, believe it or not, even little boys and girls are seeking compelling experiences with God.

Barna points out that only a minority of teens is expected to remain involved in Christian churches after they reach the age of independence. He says, "Teens do not go to youth groups for music and games, and they will not attend 'adult church' for music and preaching. They demand transcendent adventures and supportive relationships. They need an outlet for their desire to have a positive effect on the world and to synchronize their inner drive to be needed with the needs of those in the world that have little." What greater outlet for making a positive effect on the world than training them to share the gospel of hope with a needy, dying world, or to lay hands on the sick, seeing them recover? And yet most of the experiences we offer our kids of a spiritual nature lacks anything supernatural or life changing.

A Special Dispensation

In his opening comments to a training session I recently taught in a local church, the host pastor shared with his children's workers his definition the biblical term "dispensation." Pastor Jim Hessler stated, "I don't fully understand dispensations like trained theologians. But I do know that they are seasons of time in man's history where something happens that will never happen again." He continued, "I believe in regards to this move of God in the children, we are in a special dispensation, and we need to get on board, and move while we can."

I had a great witness in my spirit that what he said was true, whether it was a true dispensation, and met the criteria of qualified theologians or not. Webster's dictionary defines a dispensation as a "divine ordering of human events, or of the affairs of the world." We are now in the dispensation of Joel 2:28.

In Barna's book he continues his comments saying their research clearly demonstrates that this current generation of kids/teens will be the least churched generation of the past century unless Christians modify the approach they use to influence the faith development of this spiritually open and savvy segment of the population. He says, "The substance of our culture hangs in the balance with the changing of the guard every couple of decades. Why? Because once people hit their mid-20s and beyond, they are who they are, and the degree of personal change they undergo in terms of character and values is minimal." Many of us who work with children can attest that much of that character and the corresponding values are already set in childhood. Childhood is the time to reach people with the gospel, and with genuine, memorable, miraculous encounters with a living God.

Re-evaluating Our Methods

The Lord had instructed me to set up a lawn chair in my front yard one evening. I was to simply sit there, and read a book. This came as a result of me asking Him for opportunities to minister to the kids in my own neighborhood. I hadn't been there five minutes, when an eleven-year-old girl that I had never seen before came running around the corner, spotted me in my chair, and headed straight for me, giggling as she ran.

She immediately dropped behind my chair, and told me she was playing cops and robbers with her friends. She said if they spotted her, she'd have to go to "jail." So I assured her she could hide next to me, and I'd be her watch-out person. But as we waited for her friends to appear, it wasn't two or three minutes until she suddenly blurted out to me--a total stranger--"I went to Sunday school today, and I hate it! It's so boring!"

This immediately opened up a wonderful opportunity to share with her, and eventually her friends, about the Lord and some of my experiences, and they were clearly hungry to know more. It was very evident that it wasn't God they found boring--it was how He was packaged, and presented to them. But this young girl had already decided whether or not church, and the God that was being represented to her in that environment, had any relevance to her life. Unless something changes in her experience, she is a definite candidate to "check out" of church life when she reaches her teen years, and never look back.

As parents and church leaders, we have to re-evaluate our methods, be willing to make major departures from the "norm" as it relates to our Christian education. We've got to figure out how to supplant crafts with the supernatural. We've got better children's ministry resource materials than we've ever had in our churches, bigger budgets, more sophisticated technology that rivals Hollywood, and even paid staff to take care of the children. Yet the kids that are being raised in Christian environments are leaving the organized church in droves.

We have to ask ourselves, "Why?"

It's time to hit our knees, and begin asking God to reveal to us His plans, and quit relying on programs and systems that date back to the 16th century to reach today's kids for Jesus. It's going to take more than loud music, confetti machines, and the latest animal costumes to draw our youngsters to the Lord. There's nothing wrong with those things in themselves, so please don't think I'm against them. I'm not. But when it's being commonly reported in pulpits across the country that less than one percent of new church growth is due to new conversions, the least we can hope to do is keep the kids were giving birth to, and raising in our midst! I believe everything should be up for discussion in the local church as it pertains to children's ministry.

We keep trying to convince children's workers and parents that they are not babysitting when they teach a Sunday school class. But when are we going to get honest with ourselves?

That's exactly what's happening! The parents and other workers for the most part are only "taking their turn" teaching, but as soon as their month is up, they're "outta there!" Don't think the kids don't perceive that! It's no wonder they don't want to be there either. But even in the classrooms that are "working," could we be using our time more valuably?

For instance, instead of breaking up our group of children into age groups during our midweek services, could we not break them up into "interest" groups--interest in evangelism, gifts of the Spirit and the prophetic, healing the sick, ministry to the poor and needy, intercessory prayer? Is it not possible to then have "teachers" who are not necessarily parents that have had their arms twisted to teach a class, but they are the on-fire intercessors, evangelists, mercy-gift oriented people who will take a small group of five or six children to the side, and mentor them for one hour in their own personal area of spiritual passion?

Your in-house, burning evangelist can load his car with kids and take them to a park, or the local McDonald's to do some "prophetic evangelism." Your resident Mr. Mercy Gift can take a carload of kids to the home for the aging, and spend time praying with them and sharing a scripture with them. What about those in your church that have a great love of praying for the sick? Could they take a carload of kids over to Mrs. Anderson's house, where she's been bed-ridden for three weeks, and have the children lay hands on her and pray for her healing? Your passionate, faithful intercessors can take a group of kids into a side room, and for one hour mentor them in intercession, praying for the nations, or whatever God lays on their hearts.

Suddenly you have teachers who are imparting their gifts and passions, and not trying to study some boring book, and gather up all the materials for the weekly craft. And you have kids who are being mentored in a way that is priceless, and is totally relevant to real life, and giving them an opportunity to see how the gospel really is supposed to work. At the end of one hour, they all come back to the church to share their experiences, pray, and encourage one another before joining their parents and going home.

It's Really Working!

Recently I was sent a testimony by a children's pastor that was experiencing a precious move of God in her children's services in Kirkland, WA. Jennifer shared: "The children are so hungry for a TRUE experience with God and they are willing to lay down the things of the world to live a life of power through the Lord. We have had waves of the Spirit so strong that the children are all down on their faces crying out to the Lord for the nations. One Sunday we had a time of intercession during worship. The children began standing up one at a time and began to prophecy. One boy that would never get up front to do anything, stood, and began to speak out the things of the Lord. They began to speak things of God's love for them. One boy even stood and began quoting John 4:18 (Perfect love casts out fear...), this boy is one that has a hard time memorizing anything, yet he stood and quoted this whole scripture word for word.

Yesterday we had a boy's ears healed in children's church. He had an extremely bad ear infection, and it affected his hearing. Yesterday all hearing was restored when the children laid hands on him, and prayed. We have had some of our children preach in the adult service, and hold altar services. Our children are ready and waiting to go out to the nations. While they are waiting for that to come to past, they are holding Bible studies in their schools with their friends. The unsaved kids on the playgrounds are being saved and filled with the Spirit right there. It is so exciting to see what God is doing with this new generation. He is beginning to raise them up in a holy power to defeat the darkness that surrounds this world."

There is no reason this can't happen in each of our churches, and even in our homes! It will take people of passion to pass the torch of passion on to the next generation, with fresh vision, and daring out-of-the- box courage to bring our children into their true destinies with the living God.

Suggested Resource: Shaping Future Generations

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Becky Fischer is the founder and director of Kids In Ministry International. It is most cutting edge apostolic, prophetic ministry for children and those who minister to them. Our mission is to redefine children's ministry in the 21st century by raising up this generation as active members in the body of Christ.

www.kidsinministry.org