Monday, August 06, 2007
Children and Baptism...
Some of you posted a comment, some of you said something to me, and some of us have had this discussion. How do you as a parent, or family friend, or minister/elder, or Bible class teacher handle the "I want to be baptized" question? I am not sure I have all the answers, but I can share some ideas that have been helpful to us and to others when wrestling with this question.
Use public baptisms as teaching moments. Explain to your children what is happening. Ask God for wisdom and try to be age appropriate.
Observe your child in worship. If they cannot sit thru a worship service or still want to go to children's church, they may not be ready.
Ask them to pray about it, and to pray with you about it. Ask them to study with you about this decision. If they are not ready to study about it, they are not ready.
Feel free to ask advice from those who have gone thru this, and especially if you like the faith you see in their children.
Make them verbalize to you, or write down, why they want to do this. It will help clarify thinking now and be useful later when they wonder if they knew what they were doing.
Try talking them out of it. If you can, they may not be ready. The time will come when you cannot. I still remember asking my son what he would do if I wouldn't baptize him. When he said, "I guess I'd get someone else to do it", I knew he was ready.
Denise brought up a good point in her comment about the fear of saying no and they never bring it up again. I would submit that as a good reason they were not ready. If they never bring it up again, they probably were not serious the first time.
Finally, if you think they are too young to talk about death and resurrection, or you don't want to explain the body and blood of Jesus during the Lord's Supper, they are probably too young.
Watching your children be born again is an incredible experience. Seeing them claim the promises of God and accept his grace for themselves will be the greatest thing you ever witness. For all of my kid's accomplishments, there is nothing that compares with seeing them die and be raised to new life.
In fact, I would say that is the greatest validation of your success as a parent. And it may be the closest I will ever come to reflecting the love of my Father: to see my children become my brother and sister.
Use public baptisms as teaching moments. Explain to your children what is happening. Ask God for wisdom and try to be age appropriate.
Observe your child in worship. If they cannot sit thru a worship service or still want to go to children's church, they may not be ready.
Ask them to pray about it, and to pray with you about it. Ask them to study with you about this decision. If they are not ready to study about it, they are not ready.
Feel free to ask advice from those who have gone thru this, and especially if you like the faith you see in their children.
Make them verbalize to you, or write down, why they want to do this. It will help clarify thinking now and be useful later when they wonder if they knew what they were doing.
Try talking them out of it. If you can, they may not be ready. The time will come when you cannot. I still remember asking my son what he would do if I wouldn't baptize him. When he said, "I guess I'd get someone else to do it", I knew he was ready.
Denise brought up a good point in her comment about the fear of saying no and they never bring it up again. I would submit that as a good reason they were not ready. If they never bring it up again, they probably were not serious the first time.
Finally, if you think they are too young to talk about death and resurrection, or you don't want to explain the body and blood of Jesus during the Lord's Supper, they are probably too young.
Watching your children be born again is an incredible experience. Seeing them claim the promises of God and accept his grace for themselves will be the greatest thing you ever witness. For all of my kid's accomplishments, there is nothing that compares with seeing them die and be raised to new life.
In fact, I would say that is the greatest validation of your success as a parent. And it may be the closest I will ever come to reflecting the love of my Father: to see my children become my brother and sister.
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All good thoughts. I am personally less concerned how well my kids do in worship as to how they worship seven days a week. Does that make sense? Sunday morning church is an awesome way for us to come together and worship the Lord, my measuring stick which I am sure is completely inadequate is not measured by how long they can sit still as compared to how much they show Jesus in their every day lives. I felt very inadequate when I was asked by all three of my kiddo's about baptism. Only God can see their hearts, I can see the fruit, and that is what I looked for.
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