Brothers, lets begin a discussion that is important and not talked about much.
At what age should beliving children become members of a local church?
When can a child fulfill the committments of a church covenant?
Why would we baptize a child but not allow them to be a member of our church?
I'm totally undecided on this issue. I'm really wanting to learn from you guys.
-Justin C.
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6 comments:
In the narrative of the Scriptures we see that most people were baptized directly into the membership of the church. However, within a few decades, we know that many of the Gentile churches had begun requiring a period of trial and training before allowing a newly baptized person into membership. I think this period is important, but should be as short as possible.
The Bible never gives us a specific directive concerning this, and so we shouldn't speak dogmatically. I suspect that if a child is mature enough to be baptized, he or she is mature enougn to be a member. If the child can understand the Gospel, then the child can understand the responsibilities of being faithful to church and loving your brothers and sisters. As far as being old enough to vote in business meetings, I don't think the congregation should be doing that very often anyway. When those times come, the child should look to the parents for guidance.
This is a very good subject and it's one that I have struggled with as well. In my personal convictions, there is not an age that one has to be in order for this to take place. However, there is an age I prefer which is 13. With that being said, I have decided to check with each person individually and work through what it means to be a believer and a member of the church. I don't think you need to wait until 18 or so (like Dever has suggested). But I also don't think we need to baptize 6, 7, or 8 year old either. I realize that the Bible does not give us specifics on this, but it does appear to me that baptism leads directly membership. Therefore, my preference is to keep that as the norm and should be somewhere around the age when that person can fully understand and comprehend what is meant for salvation and membership. I think Justin N. is right children should look to their parents for guidance.
Great question JC. Just off the top of my head, I think if a child is old enough to believe the gospel (notice I don't say fully understand), then we should baptize him/her. If they believe at 6, 7, or 8, then I think we should baptize them. We should examine "professors" to try and determine if they believe, but some of it is guess-work and I'm not always too good at guess-work.
I think we should be careful about withholding baptism to someone who says the believe in and love Jesus Christ as the Savior.
All that said, we should be careful that we accept only true believers as far as we can tell (no matter what the age). I'd much rather have a 7 year old regenerate member voting than a 45 year old unregenerate member.
I agree mostly with what Jim has said. However, when I say "fully understand and comprehend what is meant for salvation and membership" can be demonstrated this way. My little girl is two and a half years old. Here is what I have told her about the gospel:
Q. Who is holy?
A. God
Q. Who is God's Son?
A. Jesus
Q. What did Jesus do?
A. Died on the cross.
Q. Why did Jesus die on the cross?
A. For my sins.
Q. What must you do?
A. Repent and believe.
Abigail can tell you every one of those answers. She "believes" the gospel as much as she possibly can. However, I don't think any of us would assume it's time to baptize her. Why not? Because we recognize that her belief in Jesus is based upon what her parents and church is teaching her. She does not fully understand or comprehend what that means. Until someone is ready to trust Him as Lord, I do not think they should be baptized.
I do completely agree that we do not want 45 year old unregenerate church members. However, most of our churches do. While there are several reasons for this, one is because we have baptized them too quickly and brought them in as members. Now they are members (some still active - gotta love that distinction) and yet unregenerate. So I still say they need to understand and comprehend the gospel and to be able to be a faithful member of the church.
I meant belief in the NT sense of the word... faith, trust.
And while that we've baptized too quickly might be a reason, I think the bigger reason is based on how we take in transfers.
Very good point Jim. It is funny that we often times accept a letter of transfer that tells us nothing about the person/people joining.
I agree with the NT understanding of belief. That is actually the point I was trying to make. Denying yourself and taking up your cross and following Christ takes an understanding that is greater than most (though perhaps not all) 6, 7, or 8 year olds. I am not dogmatic about the age, though I do see a need to wait until they are old enough to understand this.
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