On baptizing professing children

Some churches won’t baptize a professing child under a certain age because, among other reasons, they’re afraid the child isn’t saved, or at least not tested in his faith. These kinds of thoughtful churches fear baptizing a child and giving him a false assurance. Here’s a quote from an article with a careful, biblical response to that poor (less-than-biblical) reasoning.

‘The antidote for false assurance is not sub-biblical hurdles to baptism, but thick community within the local church and a culture of discipleship. The members of the church should know one another. This doesn’t require that every member know every other member well, but that every member is known well by many, having been plugged into discipleship structures that encourage shared stories and openness. Local churches can build a culture where it’s hard to not walk in the light. And cultures like this, together with regular teaching and resourcing from the word of God, will go further in preventing false assurance than forbidding a believing child from the baptismal waters (not to mention the Lord’s Table).’

Read the whole thing here

[For a similar book, see this one.]

(GSiV: baptism)