By the grace of God and through His mercy…
I. I will work to give ever kid a look at the real Jesus Christ, as well as what living life in a relationship with Him is like, by spending time with them, talking, and praying. I will invite each kid to make a personal decision based on facts regarding Jesus. I will never give up on a kid or consider anyone unreachable. I will always continue loving kids regardless of their responses.
II. I will not think my work is over when kids have made a decision to follow Christ. I will help them to realize how necessary daily Bible reading and prayer are. I will also put helpful books in their hands and will encourage them to unite with God’s people. I will show them the importance of ministry.
III. I will work to help kids discover their gifts and abilities for service in God’s kingdom. I will do all I can to help every kid become a fully engaged follower of Christ, for God has a place for each one to serve.
IV. I will work to bring faith into everyday life with practical applications and examples for kids who are following Jesus. For example, we will examine what it means to care for “the least of these” in our lives, as described in Matthew 25.
V. I will work to see what God sees in kids. Michelangelo saw the face of an angel in a discarded stone. Christ saw a writer in a tax collector, a preacher in a fisherman, a world evangelist in a murderer. He takes foolish, weak, and despised things to work His purposes. (1 Corinthians 1:27-29)
VI. I will work to cultivate a compelling vision in the hearts and minds of kids. I will work to help kids discover the plans God has for them; plans to prosper them and not to harm them — to give them a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11).
VII. I will work to become accessible to all kids. I will work to develop a warm and welcoming spirit, a spirit of compassion, understanding, and acceptance so that anyone who might come to me with the deepest experiences of their inner life. I will work to become a safe person in kids’ lives.
VIII. I will keep the cross of Christ central in discipleship of kids. I will invite kids to explore what it means to “take up their crosses daily” and follow Him. I will work to take up that same cross in my own life and lead by example.
IX. I will pray as I have never prayed before for wisdom and power, believing God’s promise that “if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask, and it shall be given to him” (James 1:5).
X. I will spend and be spent in this battle. I will not seek rest and ease. I will seek fellowship with the “man of sorrows…acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3), as He walks through this stricken world.
Adapted from Henrietta Mears, borrowed from Reaching Every Kid…by Reaching the Next Kid: The Leader Handbook
