Notice what it says in Mark 10:13.
"One day some PARENTS brought their children to Jesus so He could touch and bless them..."
Who came with the children? Parents. When you reach kids, you reach parents. You see, the key to a parent's heart is through his or her child. No matter how far a father is away from God, he has a soft spot in his heart for his child. And no matter how entrenched in sin a mother is, she cares deeply for her child. When you bless a child, you have the attention of their parents.
When you take a child by the hand, you take a parent by the heart. (tweet this)Children's ministry will draw families to your church like nothing else. Currently 40% of the people joining our church are doing so because of our children's ministry. Churches that want to reach families and grow should make children's ministry one of their top priorities.
Look across the country and you will see that the fastest growing churches all have dynamic children's ministries. This past week, I was talking with someone who is part of one of the 5 largest churches in the country. He said, "My Pastor told me the secret to our church growing so large is because we have focused on having an excellent children's ministry."
Many churches make the mistake of spending more time and resources on things like choir robes, flowers on the communion table, women's ministry, adult classroom space and full color brochures than they do on children's ministry. And then they wonder why they are not reaching families and growing.
Does your church want to reach families? Focus on children's ministry. It's your greatest opportunity. (tweet this)