Children at Risk Highlighted in Missiology Lectures

“Children and the Mission of God” was the theme of the 2006 Missiology Lectures offered by Fuller’s School of Intercultural Studies November 8 and 9. Lectures included “Children on the Margins: Our Omission” on the plight of the girl child in Latin America and beyond, with Adjunct Assistant Professor Desiree Segura-April; “Children and the Church: Our Ministry” on holistic models of ministry, with Susan Greener, Dean of Students at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School; and “Children and the Kingdom: Our Mission” on urban context considerations, with Associate Professor of Urban Mission Jude Tiersma Watson. Afternoon panel discussions were led by Dean Douglas McConnell.

Bryant Myers, newly appointed professor of International Development, launched the lectures with an overview presentation, “Children in our Midst: Our Mandate.” Myers, who brings 31 years’ experience with World Vision International to his role, began with two reasons to look closely at the problem of children at risk. First, “the well-being of the vulnerable is a test of the faithfulness of our worship,” he said, pointing to the prophets’ call to defend the cause of the fatherless. Second, “the well-being of children is an indicator of the well-being of society,” Myers claimed. “If the children are doing all right, the rest of us probably are, too.”

Even though many of the world’s children today are doing well, he said, way too many are not. An alarming 210 million children globally are involved in labor outside the home, half of them in full-time work—taking them out of school and placing many in hazardous conditions. Of these, 1.8 million are involved in the worst forms of child labor: prostitution and pornography. Myers noted the distressing fact that those who exploit children in this way often take advantage of disastrous situations; after the tsunami, he said, “the child exploiters arrived in Banda Aceh as soon as relief workers did.”

Myers offered many more disturbing statistics: 5.7 million children are engaged in forced or bonded labor; 300,000 are child soldiers; 10 million are refugees, many without their families; tens of millions live on the streets; and vast numbers are unregistered, with no recognition by their governments. Myers also noted the very different kind of problem of “deceived children” in the U.S., where $12 billion is spent every year on advertising directed to children 12 and under.

“Children are in trouble everywhere in the world—some in awful ways, but also in more sophisticated, psychological ways,” Myers said. We must “act like Christ and be the Church” by caring for and protecting children through tangible provisions of care, by actively advocating for them, and by empowering them. “These children need to hear the gospel,” Myers urged. “They need to learn the liberating news that Jesus weeps for them…and that he provides forgiveness.” We must all think more intentionally about children and how our daily decisions will affect them, Myers concluded, citing a quote from John Whitehead: “Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.”

Myers’ presentation was followed by the awarding of the School of International Studies Alumnus of the Year award to Iman Santoso, PhD, for his leadership in the church of Indonesia and its life of prayer and mission.