Mini Evangelists
Still children they have been tasked with the salvation of others.
This makes me uneasy.
A group of them commissioned into a public space, encouraged to interact with strangers, ask them questions about miracles and prayer.
I believe in miracles and prayer.
But I can't help but feel this is not what Jesus meant when He said let the little children come to me.
I'm sure when they walked up to me they did not expect to speak to an adult, let alone another Christian, let alone someone in ministry. But that's the thing about these kinds of churches, this kind of theology, it wants a Christian to look a certain way, to use the right words, it assumes a lack of faith without any context. It doesn't matter what's in the heart, what the impact is on the world as long you get enough prayers in, as long as someone says they've commited their life to Christ that's enough.
But no matter how many photo opportunities you get of youth laying hands on unsuspecting people, your impact on the world falls short. Because while you spent a day doing that, the food bank needed volunteers, someone at church needed a babysitter, a friend needed support during a mental health crisis. Any number of things.
The idea of children in the faith is not about getting someone as young as possible to dress the right way for your church, to parrot these sayings that mean nothing in their hearts, to make assumptions about people before genuinely getting to know them. It's about a simplicity of faith without all that baggage.
A kind of faith that loves because it's the natural thing to do, that offers a helping hand as well as a prayer, who sees the best in people, the different in people, the mess in people and calls it Holy.
You can have as many businesses working out of your church as you like. It won't get you closer to heaven. The kingdom is right here, in the heart of the homeless man who you would ask to move away from your front door.
When it is my turn to shepherd younger disciples, I will tell them to be wary of anyone who suggests that it is a child's duty to lead people to the other side, but affirm that their faith is still powerful, moreso even, when they laugh with the weird kid, play with the toddlers at church and bring tea to elderly woman in the back row. When they stand up for the voiceless. That stuff means more than any type of faith that asks them to perform the perfect Christian, any image they may be asked to conform to, because guess what?
The only image that matters is the one you already have, because that's God right there, in your fresh face, unspoiled, magical all on its own - because He made it just like that.
