There is no doubt that young children can receive Christ as their Savior and Lord and become His followers. My wife and I had the privilege of sharing the gospel with all of our three children when they were about four years old and leading them to Christ one by one. We know that they received Christ and became His followers as genuinely as any four year-olds could. All of them were baptized about three years ago.
However, after thinking and talking with other staff members both from the KSC and the ESC, I have come to realize that I allowed my children to get baptized prematurely. According to Scripture, it is very clear that baptism doesn’t save people. Rather, it was administered to people who were already saved and was given to them so that they could publicly profess their faith in Jesus Christ. As they were getting baptized they were reminded of what Christ did for them and proclaimed to the world their commitment to follow Christ all the days of their lives no matter what the cost. For some that cost could be persecution and rejection, perhaps their very lives. Moreover, a clear reading of the Bible will tell us that baptism was given to believing adults and not to young children whose understanding of baptism may not have been fully developed. In other words, baptism must be done in a very thoughtful and meaningful way.
Therefore, this is what the pastoral staff of both the KSC and the ESC has decided to do in regards to children and youth baptism. We will continue to share the gospel with our children of all ages but we will not baptize children below youth group age. If youth in middle school want to get baptized, we will have them write their salvation testimony. If they seem to fully understand their salvation and the lordship of Christ, with their parents’ permission, we will baptize them. If they don’t seem to have fully grasped the core message of the gospel, we will simply tell them to wait and continue to learn more about Jesus and His finished work through His death and resurrection. Baptism for middle-school age youth, then, will be more the exception than the norm at our church. As such, we will encourage our youth to wait until they are in high school before getting baptized.
I know that some of you had your children get baptized when they were just five or six years old due to our practice in the past. If your children, even when they become teenagers, think that the baptism they received when they were little children was genuine because they fully understood its true meaning, then there will be no need for them to get baptized again. However, if they would like to get baptized again because they believe they didn’t completely comprehend the meaning of baptism when they were little, we will allow them to be baptized once more.
If we practice our children’s baptism this way, it will be more meaningful, not just for them, but for the whole church community. As they receive baptism, they will understand more clearly what it means to follow Jesus all the days of their lives and we can rejoice with them for making such a courageous and glorious decision. And we can all sing the old gospel song, “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus,” from the depth of our hearts.
I have decided to follow Jesus.
I have decided to follow Jesus.
I have decided to follow Jesus.
No turning back, no turning back.
The cross before me, the world behind me.
The cross before me, the world behind me.
The cross before me, the world behind me.
No turning back, no turning back.
Though none go with me, still I will follow.
Though none go with me, still I will follow.
Though none go with me, still I will follow.
No turning back, no turning back.
Your pastor,
Eric
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