Like a lot of churches in our community, my church hosts a Vacation Bible School every summer. We are having our week even while I am writing this, so kids are on my mind right now. I enjoy being involved in VBS every year because I like to hang out with kids and tell them about God.

I like to interact with kids who come to my church every week, but I especially like meeting kids from our community who I don’t usually get to be with. Kids say and do things that adults have grown out of (mostly), and they always get me laughing with their shenanigans. Last night, for instance, I was enjoying the spectacle of a little girl making a beard out of a fruit roll-up! You don’t see that every day! Beyond my own amusement factor, I also know that kids should be important to me because they are important to God.

The Bible says some very specific things about children, about how God feels about children and about an adult’s responsibility in caring for children. I’d like to highlight four things.

First, children are created by God, and being intimately made by God, they are intimately loved and valued by God. In the very beginning of the Book of Jeremiah, God tells Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.” (1:5) So God had plans for Jeremiah even before he was born. Or if you turn to Psalm 139, you will find a homely image of God “knitting” children together in the womb. That Psalm affirms that children are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” (139:13-14) Another Psalm tells us that children are a gift to us, a “reward.” (127:3) This is true of the children in your family as you become a parent or a grandparent, but children are also a gift to the entire community. They are a gift to our towns, our schools and our churches. I would much rather hear the sounds of crying infants in a church service than having everything stone-still silent like a tomb. Children bring life, vibrancy and laughter to a community.

Not only are children created by God, but they are also especially fitted for God’s Kingdom. Jesus talked about this on a number of occasions. At the beginning of Matthew 18, when his disciples ask him who the greatest is in the Kingdom, Jesus brings a child over and tells the disciples that they must become like little children in order to enter the Kingdom. What did he mean? I imagine he meant that children have a trusting faith whereas adults have learned to be skeptical. Also, children have not learned to become self-sufficient or puffed up with pride about their reputations or possessions. Or maybe it is just the broken world hasn’t had time enough to corrupt their characters – that they are free from a lot of the warping influence that happens to us the longer we live. The irony is that we have much to teach children, but we also have much to learn from children, especially when it comes to becoming Kingdom people. A chapter later, the disciples were preventing parents with little children from approaching Jesus to receive blessings and prayers. Jesus strongly corrected his disciples and told them, “Let the little children come to me … the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.” (19:14)

We also learn from scripture that God is the fierce defender of children. God is like a big mama bear with cubs. I can think of nothing more dangerous – no quicker way to enrage God than to abuse, neglect, or manipulate one of his children.

The Bible pronounces several curses when it comes to mistreating children, especially those who are the most vulnerable. Exodus 22:22-24 speaks of mistreating widows and orphans: “Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword.” Or going back to Matthew 18, Jesus pronounces this curse: “If anyone causes one of these little ones – those who believe in me – to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (18:6) God cares for all children.

Lastly, if God cares so much about kids, the Bible insists God’s followers should care about children too. Part of that care is to bring up children in the knowledge of the Lord. If we don’t teach our children the values we hold, the world will be more than willing to step in and fill the gap. Deuteronomy tells the Israelites “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (6:5-7) In the New Testament, James tells us to look after widows and orphans. He calls this a religion that is “pure and faultless.” (1:27)

My own experience is that most churchgoers will affirm all of the above. The issue I have is that only a few adults actually get involved in children’s ministry directly. Every church leader I have ever met attests to the same thing: we all could use more caring adults who are willing to take the time to be with kids, to teach kids and to help kids know that they are loved and valued. Show the children in your life that you love them. Be open to kids around you in your church, school, or neighborhood. Tell them that God loves them, and you do too.

Derek Russell is pastor of the Hillsboro Global Methodist Church. He loves Jesus, family, dogs and football.