Thoughts on the Proper Age for Believer Baptism

With the increased use of our portable baptistry, I thought I would republish some suggestions  regarding the proper age for baptism.  While there are no hard and fast rules, there are a few things that ought to be considered by parents as they help their child with this important step in their lives.

  1. The baptism of a child is a form of “believer” baptism, and therefore it is essential that the child to be baptized has some sort of grasp of the essentials of salvation…i.e. the theological realities of sin, of redemption and of repentance.

  2. The impetus for the baptism of a child should be the child and not the parents.  It is wise to wait until the child  begins to bring up the subject, maybe even repeatedly, as a sign of his or her readiness.  Parental pressure, even if it is gentle and loving, is not the best motivation for believer baptism!

  3. Children who have witnessed baptisms may find themselves attracted to it, not because they are necessarily spiritually ready for it, but because it looks interesting to them (in the way that a lot of things—particularly things that are wet—look interesting to young children!), or because they’ve seen others do it.  While this is perfectly understandable, it is not an appropriate motivation for believer baptism, and therefore becomes an extremely important area of discernment for parents.

  4. There is in my mind little to be gained, and possibly something to be lost, in baptizing a child at too early an age.  In having chosen infant dedication over infant baptism early in the child's life, the parents have expressed a conviction that baptism is best deferred until a mature commitment to Jesus Christ has been made.  Let’s be looking for that mature commitment!  We do not want to invite our children to reach a point in later life where they will question their premature baptism. Many young children in Bible-teaching churches can repeat the plan of salvation and attest to having received Jesus as their Savior.  That’s a good thing!  To be baptized as a believer, however, before one understands the implications of what it means to be a believer, can create any number of problems and misunderstandings down the road.  Again, from a pastoral perspective, it is much better to let a kid wait a while and to anticipate his or her baptism than it is to rush them into the water.

  5. Because believer baptism is a public witness to the Lordship of Christ in the life of the baptismal candidate, there is value in waiting until the one to be baptized can understand the implications of that public witness.  Baptism is a counter-cultural rite—it sets one apart from the world—and it’s difficult to see how very young children can understand that.

  6. In the church in which I grew up, it was customary to baptize children who have accepted Christ somewhere around confirmation age (i.e. 12 or 13).  By this age, some kids are beginning to develop a grasp of what it means to be a follower of Jesus, and so for many, this might be a good age for baptism.  We’re not going to lay down rules, but we want to be thoughtful in our approach.