God's Heart for Young People

This summer I met a man who works for the NYC Department of Education. He told me something that astonished me. He told me that when the long-range planners for the New York State Department of Correctional Services want to determine whether they will have sufficient prison space in future years they look at the test scores of the 3rd and 4th grade children in New York City. If our 3rd graders are doing poorly, the State builds more prisons. Many of those kids, when they are grown, will have prison cells for their homes.

Approximately 1 out of every 4 New Yorkers is under the age of 18. There are over 1 million children in the NYC public schools. (If those children were a city, they would be the 10th largest city in the U.S.) Half of all public schools students live under the poverty line ($13,000 per year for a family of four). 53% of them live in households that are headed by a recent immigrant. The high school graduation rate is less than 40%.

But these are only the social needs. The spiritual needs are greater still. Countless young people in New York have never had anyone explain the gospel to them in terms they can understand. Many of them have never studied the Bible. Many can’t name one person they know who has a vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, “Whoever welcomes a little child ... in my name welcomes me.” (Matt. 18:5)

With the start of the new school year, I am reminded again how important young people are to our Lord. Those in our church who work as school teachers have a noble calling indeed. We need to keep them in prayer as they serve the Lord through teaching. We also need to pray regularly for the children of our church, and for those ministries that serve them: the Nursery Ministry, Children’s Church, and the Youth Group. We ought also to be praying that God will show us more clearly how to be a church that reaches out to young people in the neighborhood around us. In so doing, we are performing work that is very close to the heart of God.