Whenever we celebrate baptisms at LifeChurch.tv it’s an exciting event. We draw a lot of attention to it and intentionally create a celebratory moment for what God is doing. It’s a great experience.
The most common conversations I have with parents center around this question, “Is my child ready for baptism?”.
A great question that is not easily answered. My goal as a kids pastor is to equip mom and dad for those little, off-the-cuff conversations they find themselves in on the way home from school one day. “Mom, when will I be baptized?”
There are a handful of questions I ask a child to determine their readiness for baptism. For the purpose of equipping, I put these questions on paper and give them to mom and dad so they can be the one leading this conversation with their child… not me. You can read them here. Though these questions are helpful in determining a child’s understanding of baptism, I confess this is not a full-proof ‘tool’ for determining readiness.
Why? Because we can know the right answers to questions and yet not display evidence that it is true in our lives. I may have all the right responses to the question, but if my actions do not reflect life-change then my words are hollow.
So, how do we equip parents to view these questions through the lens of life-change rather than right responses?
February 19th, 2009 at 10:53 am
I’d like a copy of “God, Should I Be Baptized?”
February 19th, 2009 at 11:43 am
I love that you’re encouraging parents to have this discussion and that you’re equipping them to do so.
Well done!
Also, the pdf is beautiful and causes me to have design envy.
February 19th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
JC,
I’ll bring a copy with me to Orange.
Anthony,
Design envy… that’s good. Wish I could take credit, but I don’t have a creative bone in my body.
February 25th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
We’ve been dealing with this question in our kids ministry. To help minimize confusion for kids and parents we’ve done a couple of things.
First, we start with the parents. Before we baptize a child we ask a parent or sponsor to attend a Leading Your Child to Christ Class.This class has been very well received. Parents appreciate that we equip them and put their kids spiritual growth in their hands.
We’ve also changed the way we define whether a child is ready for baptism. We don’t ask is your child saved or not. This is a tough question to answer and it creates a lot of confusion for parents and kids to know the exact moment a child is saved. Instead we ask, can your child articulate their faith. Because isn’t that what baptism is about, telling others about what Jesus has done in your life. By changing the question we’ve taken the urgency out of getting your kid baptized and this has led to a lot fewer kids who are rushed into baptism out of tradition or ritual.
We’ve got a lot to learn but I think we’ve made a good start.