Are You Looking for a Place to Serve God?

Matthew 19:14

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

The Barna Research Group – located in California – is a research team I have used before in sermons and blog posts for facts.  They do a number of studies each year.  They have done studies on what is the best age to reach someone for Jesus.

Barna did a nationwide survey and their research determined that the highest probability of people accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior happens before the age of 14.  After the age of 14 the likelihood of persons accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior drops off dramatically.  This is a very interesting fact for those of us who invest time and other resources in children and youth ministries.  These ministries should be the cornerstone of our evangelistic efforts it seems.

The survey used the information from 4200 young people and adults and found that from ages 5 through 13 – 32% of them had accepted Jesus.  From this same group of 4200 people – only 4% had accepted Jesus from ages 14 through 18 – or 36% before age 19.  The other adults in this group – from 19 through the oldest in the group – only showed a 6% probability to accept Jesus.

If this study is accurate – 36% of all people will accept Jesus before they are 19 years of age – and 58% of all people will not accept Jesus at all.  This tells us a few things – namely that we must put our efforts and resources into reaching children with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and nearly 60% of the population hasn’t accepted Jesus and may not (a point for another post).

The study showed that our little ones are impacted the most for Jesus by family members, peers and their youth/children’s group.  Things like AWANNA, Kingdom Kids, Summer Camps, Youth Group, Small Groups and other ministries we have at Mt. Oak are fertile ground for our efforts.  If you are looking for a place to be in ministry that might just have the biggest impact on the Kingdom of God – children and youth ministry is it!  Contact Pastor Phillips or Pastor Brooker if you would like to help!

Just something to think about today as you go on your way.

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