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Every Saturday, our church makes coffee for a street in our neighbourhood, to touch base with the community. Last weekend, my wife and I debated taking our 18-month old daughter along, since we knew it would be faster if she wasn’t there.

We were right — she slowed us down. But not because she was walking slowly or making us carry her. At the first house, she smiled and laughed with a couple, which led to a conversation with them about their struggles in lockdown and how our church was coping. That slowed us down.

At the second house, we met an older gentleman who had just moved to the area and seemed quite downhearted. My daughter insisted on giving him a cuddle and leading him on a walk to the end of the driveway, and his face was beaming as he returned. I sat with him and his neighbour for over 30 minutes as my daughter played with them. I learned about their lives, and they even shared some ways our church could pray for them.

Then we moved on to the third house, where my daughter decided to play with their children for another 30 minutes while I talked to the parents. At the end of the day, the single greatest asset of our ministry (apart from God’s provision) was our daughter who can barely speak. For months we have tried to start conversations with these people to no avail, but one child opened doors that no one else could.

That day was a lesson for me. Do we see our children as assets in God’s work, or are they inconveniences? Do we dismiss their contributions because “they’ll be bored” or “they’re not ready”? When Christ said, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field”, He did not place an age limit.

 

Do not underestimate our children. They hear more than we realise, they understand more than we realise, and they contribute more than we realise. With God’s provision, a child is as effective as Billy Graham, Charles Spurgeon, or any other preacher. Let’s begin to see how God may be using our children for His glory.

[Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash]