yesterday i had the opportunity to share the good news of the kingdom of GOD with a 13 year old who has been coming to tapestry for awhile. i mention this for two reasons (one sad and the other most definitely not):
- this is the first teen i have been able to share the gospel with outside of bible camps since moving up to wisconsin and leaving professional youth ministry. a junior high students approach to faith is fascinating to be a part of. i’ve missed it. this was the sad part.
- when this kid is baptized he will be the youngest person baptized within tapestry thus far. in fact, he will be the youngest by at least 6 years. everyone else has been 19 years old or older.
this is unusual because everything i have heard recently is that the average age of baptisms within evangelical churches has gone further and further down (i’ve looked for some articles to link to concerning this but i wasn’t able to find any in my brief search so what i’ve heard could be wrong). one of the reports i heard said younger and younger baptisms had reached the point that some have said that baptists and other evangelicals are often basically baptizing infants, something that goes against most evangelicals’ beliefs. it thrills me that we are basically baptizing adults who have come to faith.
SIDE NOTE – there are two terrells that are curling now. adam has joined the SPASH curling team.
It used to be that studies showed that if a person was not reached for Christ before the age of 17 then the chance of reaching them dropped significantly. I believe that age has dropped even lower in recent years. We have to reach our children before it's too late but I agree with you Robert that sinking to infant baptism is not the way to go about it. On the other hand when is it too early for a child to be baptised or the real issue is when can a child really understand God's saving love for them and make a genuine commitment of their life t
It used to be that studies showed that if a person was not reached for Christ before the age of 17 then the chance of reaching them dropped significantly. I believe that age has dropped even lower in recent years. We have to reach our children before it's too late but I agree with you Robert that sinking to infant baptism is not the way to go about it. On the other hand when is it too early for a child to be baptised or the real issue is when can a child really understand God's saving love for them and make a genuine commitment of their life to Him?
I think we do have to be careful that we're not pressuring our young ones to make a decision before they're ready. The Holy Spirit's work should be evident in their conversion, and it should be their decision via one on one couns
I think we do have to be careful that we're not pressuring our young ones to make a decision before they're ready. The Holy Spirit's work should be evident in their conversion, and it should be their decision via one on one counseling.
@phillip – to my knowledge there is no research showing the age of 17 stat.seminary taught that it was a statement that billy graham made concerning what he thought and has since been re-quoted over and over until it was taken for research – though i still think there is probably a lot of truth in it. i believe the dropping average age of baptism suggests that we aren't reaching outside of the church walls. as for the possible age of conversion i, like ramona, worry that we are jumping ahead of the SPIRIT. i also worry that by "encouraging" kids to convert very early (some before they can even remember their "conversion") we might be encouraging the exodus from faith that seems to happen around co
@phillip – to my knowledge there is no research showing the age of 17 stat.seminary taught that it was a statement that billy graham made concerning what he thought and has since been re-quoted over and over until it was taken for research – though i still think there is probably a lot of truth in it. i believe the dropping average age of baptism suggests that we aren't reaching outside of the church walls. as for the possible age of conversion i, like ramona, worry that we are jumping ahead of the SPIRIT. i also worry that by "encouraging" kids to convert very early (some before they can even remember their "conversion") we might be encouraging the exodus from faith that seems to happen around college.