I remember that day like it was yesterday. I was six years old and outside on our family’s swing set, swinging back and forth, back and forth. “God,” I said, “I want to do something big for You someday Please don’t let me be a part of something small. I want to do something big!” I wondered if that may have been a prideful thought at the time, but now I see it as God placing a call on my life. My biggest fear as a six-year-old was doing something too small—something so insignificant that my life would leave no impact.
I see that same fear in this next generation—the fear of insignificance. They want to make a difference! A lot of them use social media for their platform to be voices of justice, influence, and agents of change—even at very young ages. This next generation wants to change the world, whether for good or evil. Who’s going to help lead them? Inside each of the kids you minister to lies the potential to change their whole generation for Christ. Some of them will go into ministry—pastoring, missions work, teaching, or evangelism. But it takes someone to call out the calling on their lives.
Again, I was six when I told God my desire to change the world for Him. Maybe, just maybe, the kids that you’re ministering to have told God that very same thing: “God, I want to do something big for you. Please don’t let my life be insignificant.” So, if that desire is in a child to make a difference in the world, how do you lead them to the point where they believe that God has a calling on their lives? Here’s a few simple helps:
1. First, call out the calling on all oftheir lives—to share Jesus with the world, with their school, and with their family! They can make a difference now—not later. Encourage them that their lives have purpose now. We are all called to follow Jesus and called to make Him known.
2. Second, encourage them to daily pursue Jesus. He’s going to lead them to what He wants them to do—ministry in the church or ministry in the marketplace. They’re both important.
3. Third, if God begins to speak to them about a specific call, don’t let them give up on it! Ask them about their call often, and encourage them to pursue what God has for them.
4. Fourth, give them resources, like Now What? For Kids: Called By God (available here). Help them understand that call even better.
Who knows what God could use this next generation for? What an honor it is to watch God put purpose in the hearts of kids just like He did for me on the swing set that day. Let’s see how God wants to use the kids you work with—they may just change the world.
