Greetings!
Welcome to 4/14 Global Summit's first newsletter. You will be receiving newsletters periodically in preparation for our Global Summit in New York City 6-8 September. We encourage you to prayerfully read each article and announcement prior to your arrival in NYC. We look forward to seeing you soon.
Martha Anderson
Transform World newsletter editor
National Director, Centurions Program of Prison Fellowship / BreakPoint
Why 4/14 Window? Why Now?
By Luis Bush,
Why 4/14 Window?
The potential and strategic importance of those 1.2 billion children and youth in the 4/14 Window
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They are our hope for the future
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The golden window of opportunity when people-between the ages of 4 and 14-are more open to the Gospel and God's Word than they ever will be again.
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Suffering neglect and exploitation. A recent study in Colombia showed that the average father spends one hour per week with his children.
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The world's ripest mission field...
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Greatest time of learning
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Moral values set for life
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World view made for life
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At the same time, these precious 4/14ers are also the most receptive people group on the planet.
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Raising up New generation
Why Now?
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As we look at the global landscape we realize we are living in a time of global change with great challenges as well as opportunities before us.
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Today's children and young people have been given a host of labels such as, "Digital kids," "Millennials" or "Mosaics."
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Technology provides them a powerful weapon to bring change, but it is also a powerful poison that could bring destruction.
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These labels suggest that today's kids are vastly different in culture and worldview from the Baby Boomer era.
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They are living in a postmodern age where the spirit of deconstructionism is pecking away at their values affecting their self-identity and changing their view of the home, school, and society at large
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Traditional values face unprecedented challenges in the digital world.
A book that addresses some of the needs/threats in Europe as recognized by the Europeans is "Toxic Childhood" by UK writer Sue Palmer. She says: "Over the last twenty-five years, huge technological and cultural changes have transformed the lifestyle of people in the developed world - largely for the better. But it's all happened so fast we haven't noticed that changes which benefit adults aren't always so good for children. A toxic cocktail of the side-effects of cultural change is now damaging the social, emotional and cognitive development of a growing number of children, with knock-on effects on their behaviour."
The continent of Europe models for us the need to focus on the 4/14 Window. The call comes from "Hope for Europe" an emerging network of networks developing across the continent. In 2002, 1000 invited leaders from across Europe met Budapest, Hungary, aiming to impart a fresh sense of vision, hope and responsibility towards shaping Europe's future. Out of the focus on the 4/14 Window a catalytic initiative emerged to establish a 4/14 Network in each nation of Europe, now established in three French speaking countries of Europe.
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The Opportunity: Understanding the 4/14 Window
In human development there is no more critical period than the decade encompassed by the 4/14 Window. It is a profoundly formative period when perspectives are shaped either positively or negatively and when a view of one's own significance (or lack thereof) is formulated. The needs and potential of this age group should inspire a purposeful response by those charged today with transforming tomorrow's world. It is a call to turn "the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers" (Malachi 4:6).
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The Challenge: Maximizing Transformational Impact
Any sensible parent knows the childhood years are formative. Everyone who has been a child knows it too! Our brains are 90% formed before we reach the age of three and 85% of our adult personality is formed by the time we reach six years of age. There is substantial truth in the Jesuits' refrain, "Show me a child when he is seven and I'll show you the man." A biblical proverb attributed to King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, instructs us, "train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6 ESV). In light of this truth, our task is to "train up" the 4/14 generation in the way they should go, so that as they grow older they can be used by God to transform the world.
This is a multi-faceted challenge and it can only be met with a holistic approach. In raising up the 4/14 generation for transformational impact, we must address their physical needs (especially of those in poverty), their intellectual needs, and all the relational, social and spiritual dimensions of their lives. We must embrace the whole person, endeavoring to see 4/14ers as God sees them.
In relating to children who live in impoverished conditions we must look beyond the lack of assets and advantages and see the complete individual. We must also recognize the cyclical, negative forces at work. Jayakumar Christian, a leader with World Vision in India, describes poverty as a set of disempowering systems that result in ongoing or even intensified poverty.
These exploitative systems interact with each other to supplant the role of God in the lives of the poor. This results in the development of absolute structures that oppress people and distort their view of God. Cultural systems legitimize these god-complexes and reinforce the distortions. All of these systems are based on deception and lies about who people really are and who God really is. They systematically victimize people who are made in the image of God, exchanging the truth for a life and causing people to worship and serve created things rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25).
As a result of their marred identities and vocational insecurities, the poor believe that they were born to be oppressed. They also conclude they have nothing to offer, and their negative identities become self-fulfilling prophecies. (The non-poor, on the other hand, often believe they have the right to exploit others and to enjoy the fruits of the poor's labor.) As long as these core perspectives remain in effect, a fatalistic mindset locks the poor into their poverty. What is true of the world's poor is especially true of the children and youth whose lives are molded and futures cast during the 4/14 years.
The 4/14 Window is the first point of access to reverse the systematic lies of culture and to remake a generation through holistic development. In future newsletters we will examine each of seven basic challenges to be addressed in the 4/14 Window.
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