“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”  - Proverbs 22:14

“The children of your servants will live in your presence; their descendants will be established before you.”  - Psalm 102:28

The Lord has called us to give as much priority to discipleship of our children as we do to the adults in the church; they are not just the “future” of the church, they are the “present” as well, real members.  

Even if a child is too young to be baptized yet, we still treat the youngster as an important part of the church.  In Maranatha churches, we usually have the children sit in the front rows in every service, because it helps them pay attention, and helps them see that there are other children in the church paying attention and receiving a blessing.  The Sunday School teachers sit with them to help them behave properly.  ”From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise…”  (Psalm 8:2).  

The children participate in every service; we do not send the children to a nursery or childcare room so that they miss the services.  The services are just as much for them as for the adults.  Babies in the church stay with their mothers wherever she sits, but from age 3 and up the children sit separate from the parents, in the front where the other children are sitting. 

Once a week, in our larger churches, we remove the children during the message (usually on Sunday morning) to give them a special lesson taught by the Sunday School teachers.  We do not waste their time having them draw pictures or doing crafts, and we never have them make idols (like crosses or pictures of Jesus or angels or characters in the Bible).  We teach them the Revealed Word, a real Bible lesson, in a way that children can understand; we teach them to pray aloud properly; and we have them practice some of the simple hymns.  They return to the regular church service at the end of the pastor’s message, ready to participate in the closing (of course, our services are shorter than in most churches – the Lord revealed that they should be no more than one hour in length). 

We divide the children into three classes – the youngest (ages 3-6), the intermediates (ages 7-10), and the adolescents (ages 11-14).  By the time the children reach age 14, we hope that they have learned deeply about salvation, prayer, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, the books of the Bible, the doctrine of the Body (the faithful church), the significance of the blood of Jesus, the necessity of obedience to God’s revelation, the concept of eternity, and other important subjects.  ”At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.”  (Matthew 11:25).

 In areas where we have enough churches and members, we hold children’s seminars twice a year (in October and in March), where they go and hear two longer presentations, lots of songs, etc.  These are great evangelistic opportunities because the children bring their friends, and their little friends hear the gospel and have experiences with the Holy Spirit.  The Lord has blessed these meetings richly, producing good fruit with the salvation of more and more children.  Our children are an inheritance that the Lord has entrusted to us; we are very careful and attentive to preserve the inheritance and prepare the children to serve the Lord faithfully as adults, and to spend eternity with Him thereafter.

“He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for his children it will be a refuge.”  (Proverbs 14:26)  Parents need to share their own spiritual experiences with their children, telling them about those times when God answered prayers or intervened on their behalf, times the parents have witnessed miracle, or lessons the parents have learned as they served the Lord.  We need to read the Word to our children and teach them to pray.  Parents should teach them the importance of behaving in the church services – not to spare the parents embarrassment, but so that the children are paying attention and can receive a blessing in every service.  Many parents do not understand that God wants to speak to their children in each service – they mistakenly think that the church services are for the adults, and the children are just observers.  This is a great mistake.  Sometimes God reveals a message to the pastor that the children will remember the rest of their lives.  The Lord can speak through visions and other spiritual gifts in the services and give the children a deep experience with Him.  The children can begin to experience the Lord presence when they worship and praise.