State of the Great Commission Report Gap 3: Where are the Children?

Introduction and context

The Lausanne Cape Town Commitment (2010) contains a strong statement in support of children, asking the church to: 

1. Take children seriously, through fresh biblical and theological enquiry that reflects on God’s love and purpose for them and through them, and by rediscovering the profound significance for theology and mission of Jesus’ provocative action in placing ‘a child in the midst’.
2. Seek to train people and provide resources to meet the needs of children worldwide, wherever possible working with their families and communities, in the conviction that holistic ministry to and through each next generation of children and young people is a vital component of world mission.
3. Expose, resist, and take action against all abuse of children, including violence, exploitation, slavery, trafficking, prostitution, gender and ethnic discrimination, commercial targeting, and willful neglect.

In response to the commitment, the Children-at-Risk Issue Network¹ was formed and got to work on the directives above, equipping church and para-church organizations to bring the whole gospel to children-at-risk, advocate on their behalf, and invite them into meaningful participation on mission. The collaborative contributions of the Issue Network are commendable, reflecting their commitment to children as vulnerable agents on God’s mission. Despite 14 years of effort, the church-at-large and the Lausanne Movement have yet to embrace full inclusion of children in the church and on mission.

What progress has been made in the past 14 years? 

The State of the Great Commission report provides a window into the influence our Issue Network has had on the broader Lausanne community and global evangelical church. We are grateful and rejoice in how the Global Listening report demonstrates widespread interest in younger generations. The analysis states that the following terms are frequent and consistently mentioned in global input: youth, the young, younger generation, GenZ, etc. ‘Listening to the younger generation’ emerged as an important theme, although many mentions in the report included ‘involvement’, reflecting recognition of the need for embodied participation. 

The term ‘children’ is used far less often and the risks, particularly that of poverty, which is the foundation of nearly all serious risk for children and their caregivers, is mentioned only once. Even that one mention refers to a lack of church engagement with the serious issues facing the ‘outside world’, implying that children ‘inside’ the church are somehow immune to poverty, injustice, and many other risks, which is regrettably untrue. 

For the Collaborate sessions of the Fourth Lausanne Congress, The Next Generation was listed as Gap 3 in the list of 25. The driving question for the collaboration group was: How might Christians in the church, parachurch, and workplace collaborate to reach and disciple emerging generations, where many see traditional Christianity as implausible and irrelevant? We believe that answering that question requires a deeper look at the last collaboration question: What areas of broader culture do Christians need to effectively engage to increase the plausibility of the gospel for the next generation?

What is missing? 

Yet, that question does not go far enough. It is not merely the plausibility of the gospel that is at issue, it is also the relevance of the institutional church to the young. The Great Commission report over-emphasizes proclamation and general exclusion of the broader witness of integral mission of ‘life, word, deed, and sign’.²

The most difficult question of all is, ‘What is good about the news the church is communicating in word and example to younger generations?’ This is in the context of:

• the focus on expanding our wealth and power by exploiting God’s good creation, which has led to more and increasingly serious floods, droughts, storms, killer heat waves, food insecurity, population dislocation, and other ills; 

• church institutions focused on celebrity, monetization of ministry, numerical growth, and strategies at the expense of depth, aping capitalistic business practices over the upside-down kingdom values of our Lord Jesus; 
• financial impropriety, moral failings, child sexual abuse scandals in church leadership and Christian institutions; 
• prevalence and tolerance of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse of children within Christian families and in society at large;
• tolerance and fomentation of divisiveness, verbal abuse, and violence expressed and acted upon by ‘Christians’ toward those who are different or hold differing opinions; 
• more investment in culture war issues than in loving our neighbors, ensuring the well-being of the poor, imprisoned, ill, and all who live on the margins of life. 

What is the church doing to ensure that young people will be open to listen to and trust the church? A witness in word is based upon more than a sound theology, evangelistic strategy, and identifying the correct target demographics. It is the full amalgamation of loving God and loving neighbor with our embodied witness in life, deed, and sign that gives a foundation for words of proclamation that may otherwise fall on skeptical ears.

Listen to the children

Where are children meaningfully present in the Lausanne Movement? 

Despite the plethora of mentions across Lausanne Issue Networks and Listening Call responses including youth, the next generation has been placed in a silo, separated from the remaining 24 Gaps much like they are segregated in churches in worship and programming, effectively eliminating the importance and voice of the young from other Gap conversations. 

If we really want to hear from the young and involve them, it is time to employ practical steps toward that reality. The young are not merely the church’s future; they are the church now. 

• Children and youth are the digital natives; we need their participation and ideas for effective innovation. 
• Children and youth are the ones disproportionately affected by political instability, displacement, racism, ethnicism, and climate change (as well as violence, war, economic instability, pollutants, etc.). Adult decisions deeply impact their well-being—for good or ill. 
• Children’s smaller, developing bodies are disproportionately affected by lack of access to adequate nutrition, education, livelihoods, and future employment opportunities. Investing in their flourishing now allows them to become who God created them to be and offer their gifts to the world. 

Too many remain in deep poverty and face life-threatening risks

By placing numerical emphasis on the middle class and aging populations, the church is ignoring the commands of Jesus to care for the ‘least of these’, the same children who are Jesus’s model of his kingdom. The UN population report released in June 2024 indicates that though there may be fewer children in richer countries, population growth worldwide by 2050 is predicted to be in the poorest regions (sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia) with the most challenges. Why are we pitting the young against elders and the middle class? A world that is fit for children is one that is good for all people and sustainability.

The young are motivated by a whole gospel

According to the Barna Group, 3/4 of US teens and 1/2 of global teens want to learn more about Jesus. And they believe the Bible motivates them to make a difference, care for those in need, stand up against wrongdoing, and promote fairness and justice in our world. Adults are their living models, and the young are looking to us to fully integrate and embody the whole gospel, not for rank prioritization of pieces of it.

Lament, repent, and look for the ‘child in the midst’

Repeating the Quito Call to Action on Children-at-Risk, we once again call upon the global church, and especially participants of Lausanne 4, to lament our shortcomings and repent of the ways the church has not fulfilled its responsibility to children; for the suffering and exploitation of children-at-risk; for how our mission efforts have undervalued children as co-laborers with us. 

In John 6, when Jesus encountered the challenge of feeding the great crowd of 5000 men (and of course, the additional women and children!), he asked his disciples for ideas and was met with practical facts on cost. When Andrew brought a boy with 5 loaves and 2 fish, he shared his skepticism about how such paltry resources could be of help. 

Jesus had asked his disciples, but he already had in mind what he was going to do (vs. 6). To the amazement of his disciples, he took the offering of a child and cared for a crowd of thousands. 

Explicit integration of children, youth, and young adults throughout the Gaps is most respectful of the myriad voices who stressed the importance of younger generations on the Lausanne Listening Calls. Though we make plans, only God knows the future; any influence we have in the next decades will through investment in the young. May all who participated in Lausanne 4 follow the lead of Jesus and include the humble ‘child in the midst’ as we consider our future partnership on the mission of God.

Endnotes

1. Children-at-risk are persons under 18 who experience an intense and/or chronic risk factor, or a combination of risk factors in personal, environmental, and/or relational domains that prevent them from pursuing and fulfilling their God-given potential. https://lausanne.org/statement/children-at-risk-missional-definition
2. Bryant Myers, Walking with the Poor: Principles and Practices of Transformational Development. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2011)