What keeps you up at night? Not much for me. I go to sleep right away. But if something has me thinking late into the night, it is the 4/14 window. It is the opportunity we have to reach kids for Christ. I'm also aware that the window is getting smaller and younger. To finish well, we must reach this age group and we must reach their parents. Today I discovered something that shocked me and kinda shook me a little. I'll explain just a little later. But first, here is a quote I have been pondering this week.
Twenty years ago, the phrase was, ‘If you don’t reach a young person by 18, you probably won’t reach them. Now, atheists and agnostics have the same access to your kids as you do; it’s just one click away. The Internet has leveled the playing field, and now if you don’t reach a child by their 12th birthday, you won’t reach them.” - Josh McDowell
The 4/14 window is real. We need to reach kids now. I'm so appreciative of the 4/14 movement men and women who continue to keep this before us as minister to kids. Just this past week I had the awesome opportunity to preach at one of our churches in our network. One topic that I never get tired of talking about is reaching kids. As we get near the end of this year we realize that our opportunity to make a difference in 2017 is coming to an end. We had all the Christmas programs and are getting ready for our Christmas services.
From the 10/40 window to the 4/14 window.
In 1989 Dr. Luis Bush described the 10/40 window and it was an inportant concept in world missions. What he basically said was between 10 degrees north and 40 degees on the equator lies the greatest unreached peoples of the world. 90 percent of that population is non-Christian. What a great missions opportunity.
In 2008 Dr. Bush spoke of a new window - the 4/14 window. Between the ages of 4 and 14 nearly 85% of the decisions for Christ are made. It is also maybe the largest unreached group in the world. Over 2.4 Billion people are between this age. Unfortunately, it has been reported than only 3% of our world missions is spent in reaching kids.
This has to be an area of concern. So I'm thinking on this
Here is a great video on the 4/14 movement
This opportunity to reach boys and girls is shrinking and just today I realized that we all need to do our part and be a part of this movement. Just today I went to go on the http://www.4to14window.com/ and realized that the website is closed. It has expired.
I started thinking about our part in reaching this generation. I pray that when families who have kids in this age group, when they show up that we are available to share the Good News with them.
I have sent a Facebook message to their Facebook page. I hope this is just a temporary situation. I realize that websites come and go, but it hit me today. I want to be there for this age group. I don't want our ministry to this age group to expire. We need men and women to champion the cause of Christ by reaching this group. Maybe you will be that one!
The source is a great opportunity to bring your whole children's ministry team for connecting with other kidmin leaders, being equipped for ministry and being inspired.
It is because of the Source I know that we are equipping leaders to reach this 4/14 window.
We have classes for elementary leaders, small group leaders, preschool.