Yesterday, we baptized another child into the covenant community of our Triune God. People from my heritage don't tend to wrongly assume--"That baby just became a Christian!"-- but i fear that many do wrongly assume
A.) OK, put it on the shelf and we'll check back with the kid around 13 and hope she wants to be a follower of Jesus
and/or
B.) This kid is "IN" until they make it absolutely clear that they want "OUT".
As I've gotten older, parented and pastored more... I find myself taking children and youth more seriously. Both their professions of faith and interest in Christ and His kingdom... AND their disinterest in the same. That leads me to the quote I read this morning:
"But, oh children of Christian parents, take heed that you do not remain barren and unfruitful in the sunshine of all these privileges (of the gospel): beware lest your heart remains hard, impenitent, and worldly, notwithstanding the many advantages you enjoy. You cannot enter the kingdom of God on the credit of your parents' religion. You must eat the bread of life for yourself, and have the witness of the Spirit in your own heart. You must have repentace of your own, faith of your own, and sanctification of your own." ---J.C. Ryle
I'm talking to children and youth (of my own and of the church) more like that. Is it loving? Is it biblical? Pray that Christ Community would be a church-family whose children and adults are shepherded with integrity, passion, and wisdom.
