Culture Point #4 - Evangelizing Children

Over the past few months, we have been examining our six CEF culture points – principles that guide all we do in our ministries around the world. So far, we have discussed godly leadership, the spiritual welfare of our workers and the importance of prayer. Today we take a closer look at the heart of our ministry—evangelizing children!

Here is culture point #4:

Importance of Evangelizing Children There is no limit to the number of organizations that do many good things that are important to boys and girls in need. We are thankful for them and believe that God uses them to help hurting children. CEF, however, has been called by God to exclusively present the Gospel so children may be saved and discipled in God’s Word. We must stay on point.

When we consider today's children around the world, we can identify many profound needs. There is poverty, hunger, AIDS, homelessness, illiteracy, abuse and children without parents or families just to name a few. Our hearts go out to the masses of hurting children. We all wish we could do something that would take away the pain so that every child could be adequately fed, clothed and cared for. And certainly most of us try to do what we can for children who are in our immediate sphere of influence.

This culture point, however, reminds us of our primary mission. As this point states, there are many good organizations seeking to meet the physical needs of children—and CEF has often partnered with them, but our God-given task is to meet the child's spiritual need. Our call from God as an organization is to present the message of salvation clearly and simply, to lead boys and girls to the Savior, to disciple them in the Word of God and direct them into the local body of believers. There is not another Christian organization to our knowledge with that specific aim.

Since our founding in 1937, CEF has been a beacon shining in a dark world. We have been used of God in many places to be a change-agent, helping the Church see that the Great Commission cannot be fulfilled without sharing the Gospel with the little ones, and that children must be evangelized before they can be taught to demonstrate Christian character traits. And our task is time-sensitive! George Barna reminds us from his studies that, “If people do not embrace Jesus Christ as their Savior before they reach their teenage years, the chance of their doing so at all is slim.” (Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions, p. 34)

Eternity is at stake! Scripture puts it this way, “For what shall it profit a man [or a child], if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36). In discussing the need for believers to return to the priority of evangelism, Christianity Today editor, Ajith Fernando writes, “The stark fact of lostness places before us the urgency of evangelism.”

When we have an opportunity and the means to meet a physical need, we are compelled by Scripture to do so. But, we must encourage our TCE students to stay true to the purpose for which our ministry exists—to, first and foremost, evangelize and disciple children. We all know that Christians, in general, do not focus ministry on evangelizing children. If we drift from our purpose, who will be there to clearly and consistently present the Gospel? Let’s be sure we are staying on point—let’s keep the main thing the main thing!