Last week I wrote about kids believing blindly.

Give me ten minutes with a kid and I can make a child believe just about anything. Kids trust. Kids believe. This is a beautiful part of their nature. But in this respect we have to understand that kids and adults are different. If I met an adult who didn’t know Christ, it would take me some time to lead them to faith. I’d have to show a lot of evidence before someone was ready to believe. I’d have to take them on a journey through scripture and share stories from how God worked in my life. After presenting all the stories, leading him through scriptures and showing him Christ’s love, he may decide to follow Christ. This is difficult. It’s hard. But the payoff is huge!

Kids are different. I can sit down with a child who doesn’t know Christ. I could literally lead them in a prayer in 10 to 15 minutes. Why? Because kids trust. Kids believe.

Here’s my problem though. Just becasue a child will believe doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take the time to walk them through the decision. What are the implications? How will my life be different? What does living for Christ really look like? If we don’t take the time to walk with kids through their decision, are we taking advantage of their trusting nature?

This places huge implications on children’s evangelism. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a big fan of children’s evangelism. However, is the evangelism without a little bit of discipleship (explaining the theology of following Christ) dangerous? This is a totally subjective question, but if 79-80% of Christian teens are walking away from their faith after their freshman year of college, do you think that any part of this statistic is attributed to kids who came to faith as a child without a proper understanding of this decision who managed to stick with their faith through high school but once questioned about it in college they left it at the door?

Thoughts?