"Give me a child...."

After Barbershop Chorus practice this morning Bev and I sat at morning tea in a somewhat one-sided conversation with another member. From somewhere she had learned that I was a minister so she embarked with enthusiasm on a convoluted story about revival of Christianity in the country. She said that one primary school of 400 pupils now had 100 who had given their hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now I signed a Decision Card for Christ in 1944 at the age of nine so perhaps I should have not experienced the sudden sinking feeling in my heart at our friend's delight over this statistic. But my evangelistic zeal has long since moved away from persuading children to make rather glibly what I think should be an adult commitment.

Two of us have been working for some weeks on the century-long story of Russell Methodist Church that closed last year. As we look over the available resources of the 1940s and 1950s we find many warm reports of Sunday School, junior choir and youth work in that church and community. Working with children was obviously a very high priority for this congregation which never numbered more than 27 members in 100 years.

Of course, many of those Sunday School children had to move away for secondary education or work. But whether they stayed or left, statistics suggest that relatively few found their way into an adult commitment in the adult church anywhere. Certainly, none remained in the Russell congregation by the 1990s. So when most of the last half-dozen local members of our congregation died, it seemed logical to close the church.

It’s a little ironic to me that the building has passed into the hands of another denomination which also places a very high value on ministry with children and young people. Perhaps in decades to come some of them will also enthuse about the programme and the fun they had. But will they graduate to an adult, thoughtful, reflective, living faith that brings compassion and understanding to an ailing society?