Children are treasures, gifts from God (Genesis 1:28, Psalm 127:3-5). Homes are Church how He values them (Mark 10:13-14, Matthew 18:1-6, Mark 9:37). The Bible is full22:6; Psalm 112:1-2, Deuteronomy 4:40). Various organisations have stipulated age ranges for those to be regarded as children. In the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a person is considered a child from birth till age eighteen (18)2. The 4/14 Window Initiative regards children as boys and girls from birth till age fourteen (14).

The Nigerian Baptist Convention defines children as boys and girls “from conception (before birth) through 12 years.” Family Life Education Division of the Christian Education Department describes children as “boys and girls from birth to twelve years old. The Division divides this age group into three categories: infants – from birth to two years, pre-schoolers – three to six years and school-age children from seven to twelve years.”5

Children’s Ministries of the Nigerian Baptist Convention (NBC)

The Children’s Ministry of the Nigerian Baptist Convention is housed in different Ministries, Missionary Union (WMU), coordinates Sunbeam and Girls’ Auxiliary, Men’s Missionary Union (MMU)oversees the Royal Ambassadors and Youth and Student Department Children’s Ministry of the Nigerian Baptist Convention has been explained as follows:

The age range is conception/birth through 12 years. This ministry includes all activities and opportunities for ministry to children of this age in the church. The five-fold ministry consists of worship, fellowship, evangelism, discipleship, and ministry.

Children are boys and girls from birth to twelve years old. This age group is divided into and outside the church. The Children’s Ministries consist of Children’s Sunday School, Worship Service, Church Training, called Discipleship, and Sunbeam Band led by the Women’s Missionary Union. Family Development Programmes and Children’s Choir.

Findings from Virtual Poll on Children’s Discipleship in NBC

Between August and October 2023, the Christian Education Department of the Nigerian Baptist Convention conducted research virtually through a questionnaire sent to Baptist families nationwide to empirically assess the effectiveness of and challenges confronting children’s discipleship programmes in the Nigerian Baptist Convention (NBC). Below is a comprehensive report and analysis of the study.

Gender: At the end of the poll, there were 278 respondents. They consist of 59.4% male and 40.6% female, which suggests that males are more interested in children’s discipleship than females. It could also mean that males are more interested in technological assessment than females.

Age range: The age range of the respondents reveals that young adults and adults are more concerned with children’s discipleship in the NBC than other age ranges. Ages between 4’l and 50 gave the highest responses (39.9%), while ages 36 – 40 gave 15.8%. It is unimpressive that we got no response from the younger generation, i.e., those between the ages of 14-25.

However, it is possible to argue that the responses were given by children’s workers because 59.9% of the respondents are children’s workers, with most having between 5 and 15 years of experience. However, this only reveals that the younger generation perhaps is not being given the platform to practice what they learn -discipleship and apostleship.

NBC Membership in the poll: 96.7% of the respondents were members of the NBC family, making this analysis peculiar as it revealed the status of children’s discipleship ministry

‘Nigerian Baptist Convention, “The Executive Committee’s Report on the Reorganization of Age Graded Youth Groups to the 2021 Convention in Session.”(Ibadan, Baptist Press, 2021),10. Comfort Ayanrinola, “An overview of the Children’s Ministries of the Nigerian Baptist Convention.” (Ibadan, Baptist Press, 2007),1-6.

The Stages of Children’s Discipleship And Apostleship

Foundation-Laying Stage (Psalm 139:13-17; Proverbs 22:6 NIV): This initial stage is a critical stage that focuses on introducing children from the womb up to five years to the love of God, through Jesus Christ. The foundation-laying stage consists of the following:

Ministering to the child in the womb: A significant mystery of child development rests solely with the Sovereign God. As much as scientists continue to try, they have not been able to completely unravel the wonder of a child’s formation in the womb. As you do not know the path of the wind or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things. (Ecclesiastes 11:5 NIV).

God cares for children during the three trimesters, actively ensuring the child’s formation. Children in the womb connect with the natural world, and parents can reach them consciously or unconsciously. Therefore, parents should seize this opportunity to begin praying for the kind of person they want their child to grow into – a disciple of Jesus. When Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, he prayed for baby Jesus, who was yet to be born, saying, “Blessed is the child you will bear!” (Luke 1:42).

At this stage, the mother-to-be should avoid unhealthy meals, alcohol, hard drugs, vain words, curses, and unwholesome conversations. Parents should rather engage in fervent prayers. The parents should frequently lay hands on the tummy of the mother and prophetically pray for the child to grow up loving God and humanity. Parents should read the Bible to their children in the womb and make them part of the daily devotion.

Initial Training: Ministering to Infants, Toddlers, and Pre-schoolers: To lay the foundation for discipleship, the church should have an excellent ministry to children from birth to five years. Teachers should be taught how to teach them using the Seven Learning Areas. Thank God for the NBC that has books that help teachers teach this age group in an age-appropriate manner.

During this period, instead of singing secular songs to infants, toddlers, and pre-schoolers as lullabies, sing hymns to them, and teach the alphabet using Bible terms. Picture Bibles with few sentences are used to teach them Bible stories, Christian principles, and values. They should be taught how to read the Bible and learn memory verses. Teach them who God is and how He loves the Jesu etc. This is the stage where a strong faith is aid.

The Decision-Making Stage (Matthew 18: 28: 18-20). The core of this stage is to lead children to Christ intentionally. To make them have a regeneration experience.

Things to think about at this stage:

• It is erroneous to think that children do not need to consciously decide to commit their lives to God because they were born into a Christian home.
• Parents, guardians, disciples, and the church must intentionally lead the children to God

Follow-Up Stage (Spiritual, Faith Growth, and Moral Development Stage): After leading a child to Christ, the next stage is to help the child grow in the Lord (Luke 2:52). Children should go through different discipleship programmes with parents and teachers or handlers. Programmes like The Six Basic Lessons, Follow and Serve the Master Series, The Mind of Christ, Experiencing God for Children, Guiding Children on Their Journey Of Faith, Master Life For Students, and the new Discipleship Material From the Christian Education Department are good manuals for this stage.

They are witnessing ((Apostleship) Stage (Acts 1:8, 28:18-20): In Children’s Ministries, Apostleship is “the act of (children) being sent by God to spread the gospel of salvation to children” and other people. Children are encouraged to tell another person about the love of Christ-joining God at work. It may be in the church environment, school, playground, home, etc.

Children at this stage focus on introducing the loving Father to people and helping them grow in their love and walk with Him through Jesus Christ. Children, as apostles, are to pray, go, tell, and win others for Jesus Christ and tell their friends what they learned on Sunday or in church. Children should also be willing to part with their pocket money for mission efforts or use their creative abilities, gifts, and talents to reach other children for Christ.

Some tools for apostleship in Children’s Ministries include The Wordless Book, The Roman Road, The Big Four – (the heart, the division sign, the cross, and the question mark), The Colours (Gold, Black, Red, White, Green, Blue and Purple), The Gospel Message Board Game, The ABC Technique’ etc.

Conclusion

The future of the Christian faith beckons on all stakeholders of the Children’s Ministry to let all hands be on deck in disciplining children for Jesus Christ while they are still young. The refusal to raise disciples and apostles in contemporary children may lead to the loss of Christian doctrines and the eventual decline of the Christian faith.