Our Mission as a Church
Deuteronomy 6:4-9

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!

5 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

6 And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.
7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Children, the next generation, are close to our hearts, so we want to invest time in helping them get to know God and tell others about Jesus.

Children in the church: a blessing or a nuisance?

As a mother of two children of my own and one foster child, but also having worked with children and young people for 15 years, I know that children can be a blessing,

but they are not always seen that way when they push us to our limits.

Are they still a blessing, or do they just get on our nerves?

That’s when it’s important to be connected to God, so that our “tank” is full and we can say, “Yes, children are a blessing!”

Children are God’s stretching program. When a child is born, it means a certain amount of self-sacrifice for you. You spend night shift after night shift, you can’t just go to events without having a plan for your child. You do all this more or less voluntarily, but you do it out of love.

This is how we grow through the challenges God has given us.

When I write about children and family here, I start with the bad news first. So many bad things happen in families around the world that we can see the enemy does not like it when families function well.

In Germany alone, approximately 100,000 abortions are performed every year.

Every year, over 165,000 divorces are filed in Germany. That is more than one in three marriages.

Approximately 130,000 children are affected by this each year. 130,000 children who have to decide which parent to go to, or who will decide which parent they should live with.

This is a plight these children find themselves in.

We see that children suffer when families are not intact.

Every day, 70 children are handed over to the youth welfare office in Germany. Very often because the parents are overwhelmed with just one child. Many people have problems with their lives, and when a child is added to the mix, it sometimes causes them to reach their breaking point.

There is great distress in our families. I believe that children and families are under constant attack from the devil.

John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal, rob, and destroy.

When we see these numbers, it is the handiwork of the devil. He does not want us to be well. The enemy does everything he can to create a cold atmosphere in families. One that pulls people down instead of lifting them up.

It’s like when nothing works in your family anymore, the children are just annoying, your

tank is only half full, you’re at the end of your rope, you don’t have anything left to give.

But I’m so glad that the verse doesn’t stop there, but that the good news comes: Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” We have a God who gives in abundance; he wants to give us not only in fullness but in abundance. And when you have abundance, you can pass it on to someone else. Life not just in dribs and drabs, but overflowing life—that’s what should be in our families, overflowing life.

I am often asked where I get the strength and love for the children I care for. To be honest, I don’t have the strength within myself, but I feel that God dwells in my weakness. My task is only to trust him and to pass on his love in me to the children.

God has entrusted me with children who have lost everything in their lives and now need only one thing: genuine, everlasting LOVE. For they have lost their trust in the love of their fellow human beings in the war for power, greed, and religion.

Only Jesus in us can give them unconditional, reliable love, just as he gives it to all of us. To do this, God needs us adults who are responsible for children.

God says: Matthew 18:4-6 Whoever humbles himself and becomes like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a millstone hung around his neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.
Children can believe, but at what age does someone decide for Jesus?
84% give their lives to Jesus before reaching the age of 20.
10% give their lives between the ages of 20 and 30 Jesus
6% over the age of 30
But only 3% of believers work with children!

We will not hide from our sons what we have heard and learned, nor from the generation to come the praises of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done.
Psalm 78:3-4

It is not enough to drag our children to church once a week and let them be bombarded with information. As parents, we have a duty to teach them about faith.

Children take on whatever your heart is overflowing with.

Are you a soccer fan who knows every club, most of the players by name, and never misses a game? Then your children will probably honor the sport or the cool cars or motorcycles that you show more interest in and spend more time with than with your children and your God.

We shape our children with what we do and worship.

They want to know what we experience with God, so let’s show them a living God!

Because I learned nothing else from my family, I sent my daughter to Catholic communion classes.

The pastor who taught the children was cold and strict. They had to memorize many Bible passages and were prepared for confession and religious rituals. To my daughter’s horror, he always smoked a cigarette and drank a glass of wine after class.

She found little joy in the teaching and did not want to go to church after communion. At the playground, she met some friends from Christian families.

They told her about their lively Bible classes in their church and how great it is to have Jesus as their friend.

This made my daughter curious, and she went to check out these classes. She happily attended the classes voluntarily for two years and studied the Good News.

She wanted some of what these children carried in their hearts: a living faith in a living, loving God.

I was very happy for my daughter that she had found the love that I still lacked. She set out on her search because she saw how much I was searching for the truth. Thank God, God allowed me to find Him a short time later.

Children are a gift from the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is a reward.

Psalm 127:3

But the people who know their God will prove strong and act accordingly.

Daniel 11:32b

Greetings and blessings,

Sandra