Why the Most Important Opportunities in Your Ministry are Here and Now

By: Landon Tucker

Regardless of your age, there is something that most people have in common. Everyone is thinking about their future, where it’s going, and asking what their purpose is.

One of the most entertaining questions adults can ask kids is, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” The answers that stem from that question can go in all sorts of directions.

You might hear a child respond, “I want to be a fireman” or “I want to be a content creator,” or my favorite thing I’ve heard from a child: “I want to be a ninja when I grow up.” It made me ponder: who wouldn’t want to be a ninja when they grow up? That would be awesome.

While there are many fun things to think about regarding a young person’s future, the future can also be nerve-racking when you think about all the bad news we hear. The immediate dread when we begin to think about all the evil that exists in the world and what type of things the next generation will face.

Asking: What will this happy-go-lucky five-year-old’s life look like in 20 years? What type of pain will they experience? It can become overwhelming to think about where they will end up and all the trouble they will face. They will almost certainly face heartbreak and loss.

While these are realities, they aren’t places we ought to stay. For whatever reason, God saw fit to put that child in your life right now.

The truth is this: We don’t know where the young people in our lives will end up, but we know God has placed them in our lives right now.

Maybe one of the children you lead will grow up to be a faithful servant of God who has found all of His grace to be a soft pillow for them to rest in each day.

But maybe this won’t be their story. What if they grow up to go down a different path that is filled with hate and sorrow? What if they grow to oppose the God we love so much?

All of those potential worries are real for people who are trying to point the next generation to the kindness of Jesus.

Out of every possible person to be in the lives of those close to you, God saw fit for you to be alive at the same time to allow you to point them to Jesus.

No matter how ill-equipped you think you are (and boy, are we ill-equipped sometimes?), God is our source of strength and wisdom, and He can sustain you. The next generation is not a lost cause, but they need a leader to encourage them that life is meant for us to serve a loving God.

You will not be in the entirety of every young person’s life that you are leading at this moment. You can likely remember an adult in your life as a child that encouraged you. Maybe it was a Sunday school teacher or a coach who was in your life for a very impactful, but overall short, time, but can you remember the impact? If you didn’t have a person like this, you could be a person like this.

While the information regarding Generation Alpha’s amount of time online and in their technology can become concerning, considering all the potential harms that the amount of screen time can cause.

However, is it possible that with all of the technology that will be developed in the next 15-30 years, one of the children you lead could help develop a technology that can reach one of the 17,269 unique people groups in the world to know about the gospel? According to the Joshua Project’s research, 7,188 of them are considered unreached (over 42% of the world’s population).

You might be a consistent kids leader or a “part-time” small group leader, but your impact might be eternal.

You are only in the life of several of the kids you lead for a season or two. We don’t know where the kids we lead today will end up, but God has you in front of them right now. And as a believer in Christ, you have the good news that changed the world. Take advantage of the here and now God has you in.

The next generation is looking for encouragement and direction, and they don’t need someone with all the answers; they need someone with The Answer. And it’s Jesus.

“How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.” Romans 10:14-15 (CSB)