Before we look at this group, I need to address what this passage does not say.
It does not state that these people are women or even that they are parents. I have heard too many sermons and I have read so much on this passage where it is just assumed that a group of moms brought their kids to Jesus.
Likely mothers or parents had brought the children, but to assume that means missing what Matthew was trying to communicate in this passage. He seemed to emphasize the people’s desire to bring those children near to the Lord.
Matthew didn’t focus on or even mention the adults’ gender or on familial relationships; he focused instead on their desire.
The text reveals that these people were determined to get the children near Jesus so He could lay His hands on them, pray for them, and bless them. These individuals were working to bring children to Jesus Christ, and similar people are working around the world today.
In fact, these people are my favorite people in the world. That’s one reason why I’m committed to helping such people serve in churches around the world. I have had the unspeakable joy of working with those people for forty years in many different countries, including my own. Their heart’s desire is to see children come to Christ.
The entire Every Generation Ministries (EGM) team around the world is comprised of such people. In this awesome group are men, women, young, elderly, working class, wealthy, highly educated, high-school grads, singles, married—and the members of this diverse group all share a love of Jesus and a love of children. They all have in common a desire to help boys and girls enter into a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ.
These dedicated individuals are serving in churches, and they are going into the communities surrounding those churches to find children. These people know that Jesus loves little children and can transform their lives. These precious servants are in churches from Canada to Kazakhstan, and that’s where I met one of them.
My Encounter With Olga
The Baptist Union had invited me to teach at a nationwide children’s ministry conference in Kazakhstan at the time when EGM was prayerfully considering starting to work in that country.
The conference would be a great opportunity to share God’s vision for transformational children’s ministry and see how these children’s workers in churches responded.
During the four days I was there, I taught several workshops each day and then spoke at the evening plenary sessions. From the first seminar to the last large-group session, Olga sat in the front row and appeared to be writing down everything I said. Always seated and ready to go before I began, she seemed very eager and very motivated.
On the last day of the conference, I spoke at the final session. I knew I would have to leave immediately if I were to catch my Air Kazakhstan flight. (Air Kazakhstan is another whole story!) The plan was, I’d have my bag packed and with me, and the car would take me to the airport immediately after I finished.
I concluded my talk on Matthew 19:13-15 (the very passage we’re studying now), and right when the meeting adjourned, Viktor, the conference organizer, was there to whisk me off to the car. And that was the very moment when Olga stepped up to speak to me.
Throughout the week her eagerness had never prompted her to actually talk with me, so my curiosity was piqued, and I set down my bag. She skipped all the normal pleasantries, but I understood her to say in Russian, “I have a thirteen-year-old son, and I have not shared the gospel with him.”
Knowing our time was short, I quickly responded, “It’s never too late to share Christ with someone whether that person is thirteen or thirty.” I even used my deeper, holy pastor/missionary voice to give her confidence that I knew what I was talking about.
Then she said, “You don’t understand…. He died.”
I descended from the mountain of confidence to the valley of despair in a nanosecond. If you’re a theologically minded person and love children, Olga’s situation raises a very difficult and thorny question. Then Olga asked, “Where is my son?”
Tears ran down her cheeks, and I prayed for the Holy Spirit to give me the words to speak. And He did. I shared those with her, and then I prayed for her. Viktor was clearly losing patience, but after my Amen, we were off to the car.
Closing Thoughts
The conference was taking place in October, so it was snowing heavily when Viktor and I stepped out of the building.
We could hear several hundred people singing a Russian Christian hymn used for such a leave-taking. Their song was a perfect soundtrack for these next few minutes that was like a scene from a movie, a scene that I will never forget.
I worked my way through the crowd, following Viktor to the car and finally getting settled in the back seat. At exactly that moment I looked up, and there was Olga holding the car door. She thanked me for talking with her and then, right before she closed the door, she said in Russian, “Now you know why I minister to children.”
The door closed, and the two-hour drive to the airport gave me time to think. Olga did not want any child to live and die—as her own son had—without having the opportunity to hear and respond to the message of salvation.
Around the world are millions of available and willing and precious people like Olga who want children to experience the forgiveness of sins and the new life that is in Christ Jesus.