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>> Hello, hello, good afternoon. I’ve come all the way from Denmark. Today I feel it
necessary to draw afresh our attention to the increasingly vulnerable position of children
around the world. We would all affirm that children are at risk from the very moment
of their conception. You know, even within our own family, we are aware of the destructive
effects that the rough edge of society can inflict on children. But more importantly,
we cannot simply stand by and watch them suffer and die in their millions, as their enemies
are left to stalk them on every side. The issues that face children today are not
just their problem but very much also ours. And without wanting to rehearse a long list
of woes, issues, challenges facing these children, I challenge everyone here and anyone listening
to these words to engage, to press the big red button and to reset our thinking and to
consider children as something valuable and meaningful and essential for us to engage
with.
If there is no hope for these children, to put the converse point, if there is no hope
for these children, then indeed our societies have no hope. But we know that there is, don’t
we? That was one amen. We know that there is. {Amen} We know that the eternal hope of
Jesus plants it in our hearts, promote us, challenge us, spur us on to seek solutions
for these children. And with this hope, with the hope of Christ, whoo ha, then there is
hope.
And the fruit of this hope, of course, can already be seen extensively around the world
as saints in the slum have relinquished personal ambition to devote themselves to the needs
of these children. These amazing people, these incredible saints are scattered into every
community, into every city and you’ll find these silent workers pour out their hearts
in a daily commitment to the great need of these children. Like the children they serve,
however, these people also very often suffer. They are under resourced, they are tired,
they are scared. And you know, I don’t know if there is one thing we could do but these
guys, folk already committed to the front line, deserve our support and our commitment.
As Christians then, we gladly acknowledge that our concern for these children flows
from God himself. And it flows from our commitment to Jesus Christ. Most fundamentally we affirm
that children, born and unborn, along with the rest of humanity, are created in the image
of God and for that reason have intrinsic worth. Any action, any action that demean,
devalue or diminish the value of these children is wrong. It’s sinful.
Children need our protection and they need to be welcomed to participate in their own
development. They’re not just recipients of our benevolence. They’re co-workers with
us in changing and transforming our families, our churches and our communities. And let’s
talk about those three things really briefly.
The family. The largest workforce for children happens to be mom and dad, huh? I would hold
that God’s basic societal unit is the family which God has ordained as based upon a man
and a woman living in faithfulness to one another and the offspring with which he blesses
that union. It is the first gathering of saints. It is the first church. The family which nurtures
children is to be characterized, of course, by faithfulness, responsibility and obedience
and mutual submission. It is God’s intention that the primary responsibility for the nurture
and discipleship of children belongs to the family. Yes? I have an amen. {Amen} Hoorah
- We’re awake even on a Sunday afternoon.
So, anyways, the family then, as we look across the world has been greatly undermined by sin
and pride and individualism and by this desire for humanist autonomy and self-fulfillment
rather than obedience to God. Moreover, where there is even a modicum of wealth, greed has
been fueled by consumerism and materialism which places value on acquisition rather than
relationship.
Well, this further has, of course, subverted the family. Where you don’t have wealth
but poverty, well, what you find is abuse and exploitation often fail to pay earners
a decent wage and hence force people to go abroad or work for a pittance and again family
disintegration is the result.
And in such a situation where the family just doesn’t work or cannot work, the body of
Christ must intervene. In these situations the repeated injunctions in both Old and New
Testament is to defend the course of the weak and the fatherless. This is not vague but
explicit. And it is a directive for every believer and every church to engage precisely
as active ambassadors for God in these situations.
And so that then naturally takes you to the church. The church represents a vine including
all of its institutions, the local believing community and Christian agencies involved
in specialized ministries. I expect it to support and provide and nurture children.
The community of faith empowered by the Spirit constitutes, if you like a wider extended
family. This wider family serves as God’s agents with responsibility to provide protection
and nurture whenever the family fails or abdicates. And children who have made a confession of
faith and who represent the church of both today and tomorrow are full members of this
very church. They’re not just human becomings, but very much human beings. And therefore
children, like all church members, have a role to play in being agents of transformation.
That said, children, like all church members, need mentoring to help them become mature
adults and to know themselves and figure out who they really are and, of course, ideally
know Christ and his intimate friendship.
And then, of course, let’s look at the community. We’ve talked about the family, we’ve talked
about church and now briefly the community. Children are part of society as a whole. And
they are to be protected and nurtured by the cultural structures, including schools and
local societies and police and so on. And these entities also have a moral obligation
to care for children within their sphere of influence. The culture of a community has
huge impact on the ability of a family to be what it should be.
As Christians, therefore, we should seek to influence culture and the corporate expressions
of that culture and make sure that all these institutions do their utmost to protect and
nurture children. A healthy community is one in which children thrive. Let me say that
one more time. A healthy community is one in which children thrive.
And the converse is also true, isn’t it? You know what? I don’t know about you but
I love kids. Children sober us, children mature us, children stretch us. Children enthrall
us, don’t they? Just like those bubbles. They’re sticky and beautiful at the same
time. Children as both a gift and a responsibility from the Lord. I don’t know about you but
Jesus took children extremely seriously and so should we. Thank you very much.