The Baptist Church is calling on its members to come together in a nationwide day of prayer and awareness for the Church’s work with children, reports The Baptist Times.

|TOP|The call follows a recent report from the Baptist Union of Great Britain’s mission department, which detailed a decline in the number of children in attendance at British Baptist churches from 38,000 to 30,000 in the last two years.

Members agreed to hold a day of prayer at last week’s Baptist Union Council meeting in Swanswick with the aim of bringing the urgency of the issue into focus within Baptist churches across the country.

No date has been set for the prayer day as yet, which is also intended to be used as a day of prayer for renewed growth.

“We need to get on our knees about these issues as a denomination,” wrote BUGB mission advisor, the Rev. Nick Lear in his report to the Council. “This may well involve some repentance that we have neglected what Jesus said about the importance of children in the Kingdom of God, as well as asking for national and local vision about what is happening and how we can respond.”

Mr Lear stressed the importance of developing a national strategic response to the Church’s faltering progress, which would have a focus on the local church.

|QUOTE|“This may well affect what churches do with children during Sunday morning services, on other occasions when children are on their premises, in schools and perhaps in detached work in places where children congregate in their homes,” he said.

Mr Lear also urged Council members to review the financial cost of any new initiatives in children’s work, highlighting that major investment would be required if the Church is serious about significantly increasing the number of and quality of programmes for children.

The BUGB mission adviser also suggested declining number of members of parental age within the church, which has dropped by 20,000 by 1992. He said that despite most children leaving the church between the ages of 10 and 11, the decision to do so had often come much earlier.

Mr Lear also criticised the Church for its overemphasis on adult work, saying that, “With children we are still mainly marking time”.

In his report, Mr Lear quoted a report by the Church of England which referred to churches which see their ministry as “predominantly one of keeping the children occupied until they can join the adult congregation”.

|AD|The mission department of the BUGB has already swung into action collating responses from churches with stable, growing and declining figures into a research article to ascertain the possible reasons for growth and decline.

Mr Lear said to The Baptist Times: “We’re building up a picture of churches’ structures and resources, and how they’re engaging children in the wider church. We’re hoping the answers will help us discern some of the needs, and also the difference between growing and declining churches.”

Referring to the successful revival in children and youth’s work within The Salvation Army, Mr Lear stressed the importance of proper resourcing.

“One of the great needs is for support and accurate training for volunteers. My vision is that there should be someone in each Association who’s able to support and resource and encourage churches in their children’s work,” he said.

“This costs, and maybe the first step is to identify people who will, in a voluntary capacity, be children’s champions for each Association.”

Mr Lear attributed the success of The Salvation Army’s youth and children’s work to the provision of dedicated staff in each of its divisions, and a refocusing of youth work onto ‘unchurched’ young people, both of which had been made possible only through the release of extra resources.

“As a denomination, we’ve seen growth in adult attendances, membership and baptisms,” he said. “I believe we can attribute this to us recapturing a vision for mission – recapturing God’s mission heart.”

Mr Lear appealed for a similar vision within the Church in its work with children.