Reaching churched kids through your preteen youth ministry offers unexpected challenges and joys. You may have solid strategies for reaching unchurched kids. But how can you help kids fall in love when they’ve known about God their whole life? Learn from one leader’s experience…
I was born on the front pew of a church during a Sunday night worship service. Before I could say momma, I said Jesus. Okay, enough exaggerating. I wasn’t born on a pew, but I was born a preacher’s daughter. Going to church was more important than anything else. I missed school dances, birthday parties, and routine mall outings. Skipping church was not an option. God was first. I was a church kid.
At birth, my spiritual path was basically laid out for me. Unlike the common stereotype of rebellious preacher’s kids, I didn’t hate church or despise God. Church culture was all I knew, and the familiarity of it made me very comfortable.
By 10th grade, I’d been to church at least three times a week for pretty much my entire life. That’s about 2,500 church services. On average, each service was three hours long. That’s the equivalent of attending church every day for almost an entire year. That’s a lot of church.
I’d heard powerful sermons. I’d been prayed for, healed, and delivered until I was blue in the face. But my experience of church and knowledge of God wasn’t completely mine. It was my family’s. I knew so much about God and the Bible. Yet I didn’t know or have a deep love for God until my own encounter with him at age 16.
Churched Kids: Reaching Lifelong Christians
So… how did I fall in love with a God I’d been told to believe in from birth? I was at Bible camp in Spokane, Washington. Night after night, the speaker delivered a clear message. God wanted to have a relationship with me. God loved me simply because I was his. Everything Jesus lived and died for was to love and be connected with me.
It seemed like a race to the altar every night. Everyone was in the race except for me. I sat completely still and emotionless. I’d heard it all so many times before. I thought, “Could this moment be any different than the hundreds of altar calls during the thousands of services I’d been to?”
Leaving the meeting room, I headed for the open field on the campground. I was so tired of hearing how to receive God and how to love God. These instructions came from others speaking on his behalf. I just wanted to get away. Couldn’t God speak for himself?
