The greatest chance that a child has of developing a resilient, firmly-rooted authentic faith is when the church and home partner together in their life. At Berean, we firmly believe this! When the church and home work together toward the evangelization and discipleship of a child, there will be a greater impact than if these two institutions worked separately from each other. The Family Ministry at Berean is designed for this very purpose!
One of the ways that we (the church) are working toward a partnership with parents and the home is through our Family Discipleship Plan. This is a simple map or path to follow, made up of seven milestones to help parents disciple their children. With each milestone comes resources, guidance, and a way to celebrate the progress of its achievement.
One of our milestones is Faith Commitment. This is all about helping kids know and understand the gospel resulting in their response of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Once someone has taken this step, the next step is to be baptized. We regularly get questions as to when a parent can know that their child is ready to take this step. The Family Ministry at Berean has created a Salvation and Baptism Parent Guide for both parents of kids and parents of youth. These guides help parents to understand the gospel and baptism, it helps them to talk with their kids about the gospel and baptism, and it helps parents to know if their child is ready to take this step. With this resource, along with a meeting with a pastor, we are better able to determine if a child has a clear understanding of the gospel, has responded appropriately to the gospel, and is ready for baptism.
I want to share some excerpts from this resource over the course of three blog posts. I hope this serves to help you whether you are thinking about when this time will come for your kids, you are navigating it with your kids right now, or you have some questions for yourself.
Salvation and Baptism
Below is the opening letter in the kids' Salvation and Baptism Parent Guide. It is meant as an introduction to what the guide will go through as well as give parents some opening thoughts as they embark on this process with their child.
Hello Parents! As a Berean Kids and Family Ministry Team, we are thrilled that your child is interested in taking the step of baptism. We want to take great care in guiding you and your child in the process of taking this step. We want to help you make sure that your child is ready. Through this packet and a meeting with a pastor, we want to partner with you in determining their readiness to take the step of baptism.
The most common question that I get about baptism is, "How old does my child need to be to be baptized?" or "How do I know when my child is ready for baptism?" My response is, "If they have responded to the message of the gospel through repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ as their forgiver and Savior, then they are ready for baptism." Age is not the primary determining factor in gauging readiness (although it may play a role). What really matters is that we take time to determine if a child has truly responded to the gospel.
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Do they have a true understanding of the gospel? (Who God is and what He has done through His Son Jesus Christ)
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Have they come to grips with the reality of their sin? (Conviction)
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Are they choosing to turn to Jesus, or are they trying to avoid hell?
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Have they shown a changed life over a period of time that would confirm a true understanding and response to the gospel? (Fruit)
Whereas age might not be the primary determining factor, age will play a role in how we approach these questions. This parent guide is for the purpose of helping you, and we together, gauge the readiness of your child for baptism, while helping you lead them to a true and right understanding of the gospel. My prayer is that the information in this packet, the conversations that will ensue, and going through this process will help to lead your child toward and set a solid foundation for a firmly rooted, authentic faith.
Pastor Ben Holden
Upcoming Posts
In the next two blog posts, we will look at other excerpts in this parent guide that are designed to help understand the gospel, what baptism is and isn't, as well as determine the readiness of the child to take that step.
This resource can be found on Berean's website along with many other resources for families here.