Some say that the children are the church of tomorrow. They are very much a part of today’s church. When I watch how the little saints and the older saints love each other in our church, it makes me so proud to be the pastor.

“Children’s Time at the Altar” is a joyful part of the worship service. The point of it isn’t to impart some great wisdom on the children, but to give them the reminder that they have a place at the altar of God. Children need to know that they too can approach God and experience his open arms of love in our worship. They may not remember what the preacher said, but they will remember those brief moments in worship for years to come.

It is the people of the church, and church life, that we remember. Those children’s songs, programs and activities go deep into the heart’s memory and are sometimes revisited by adults. They are like seed planted that can sprout and grow into new life years later.

There was a man who was living a wasted life of sin. He was homeless, scared and broken by his lifestyle when he stepped inside a little mission chapel to get warm. There he fell under the spell of the Gospel, and for the first time in years he desired to pray, but he realized that he did not know how. Then he remembered a prayer he once learned in a Christian home: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray Thee Lord my soul to keep…”

A seed, a sprout of hope, and a NEW LIFE! All that we do in Jesus’ name is not wasted, it matters. Never think of it as too small. When a life seems to be lived so wrong, do not think that those Sunday School days were wasted. The seeds that were planted years ago may be getting ready to become a life made new.

“I am Jesus’ little lamb;
ever glad at heart I am,
for my Shepherd gently guides me,
knows my need and well provides me,
loves me every day the same,
even calls me by my name.”