Paris and Beyond: Sound the Alarm!

For many years we have been traveling around the world and urging the church to prepare the emerging generation “for such a time as this.” We have been sounding the alarm that the time is coming when those things that can be shaken, will be shaken. As we read the news of the Middle East and of Paris in particular, we need to ask ourselves how the church has prepared the children and young people to live victoriously through these troubled times. Drawing pictures, making models, and watching DVD’s will not do this. Matthew 24 is our curriculum and Acts our model.

The church in the West is already under threat as laws change, the Ten Commandments are taken down, and prayer is forbidden in the school and on the football fields.

It is time to "wake up" before it is too late.

We will be held responsible by God for the generation coming after us.

Small groups must embrace this upcoming generation if they are going to have the support and accountability they need. Increasingly we will need each other as times get even tougher. And if we need each other, how much more do children need a community who will cheer them on? Let’s remember that the New Testament Church was under attack. It was a persecuted church, and it embraced the children in the homes.

There can be no better model than the Biblical one. I make no apology if this blog sounds desperate. Why? Because it is! I’m desperate to see church leaders and small group leaders open their arms and, like Jesus, say, “Let the children come to me.” As you read this, children in many nations are refusing to denounce the Name of Jesus and are being martyred for it. They CAN stand. We must raise our expectations and prepare them not for the future, but “for such time as this”!