Little Doesn’t Mean Insignificant

November 7th, 2025

Mark 10:13-16.

What is the visual you experience when you read the scripture reference about the little children? I suspect you envision children, toddlers, or even infants being brought to Jesus for blessing. In truth, that compelling vision is not incorrect. Yet behind it is an emphasis that invites us to consider other issues surrounding the expansion of Christ’s church.

No sooner had Jesus declared that His disciples were to go into all the world and preach the glorious gospel than His followers were envisioning church-growth strategies. Even today, many individuals measure congregational health by the standards of numerical growth. Is this the only criterion by which we measure the church?

In reading Jesus from this passage, one is prompted to ask, “Whom, indeed, is the church recruiting?” Do we understand to whom the kingdom belongs? If children are the kingdom’s future, what does that mean today, and how does it inform the way we do church?

The future doesn’t sit still for institutions and all other elements and organisms of life. Being Christlike and managing the institution must always be in congruence. Indeed, whom are we recruiting?

Author: David Felter