Baptism with Older Children?

[Christine]

At my church, there is a class you take for baptism that meets three times. At 3 and 5 you could still go this way. We have had many children this age get baptized. But, you have to register at the church and attend. They will not baptize your child just because you want them too. Baptism means you want the church community to welcome your children as members.

Once the child hits 7 years old, the child has to go through classes themselves.

This.

If you don't plan on being part of the community of the church, I think you will have a hard time finding anyone to do this for you.

Believe me, I struggled with this. I am not a religious person, yet, I was raised somewhat religiously and when my kids were babies (and I was much y9younger) I *severely* struggled with not having them baptized because I didn't believe in it. Then I had the spirit of my grandmother sitting on my shoulder telling me "all kids need to be baptized." I did put a "show" of going to church to get it done and, in hindsight, I feel pretty guilty about doing that now. But I am older now and much more secure in my non-faith to know that I should not have done it if I did not take the religious aspect of it seriously and commit to being part of the faith my kids were baptized in.

 

[RitaE]

but you can't just call up a church and say, hey, I want my kid baptised, because that's not the way it's done.

Actually, our Church does guest Baptisms frequently. There is no membership requirement or attendance requirement - simply an agreement to declare yourself a Christian or in the case of infant baptism, an agreement to dedicate your child to Christianity. The Pastor meets with the parents (and the children if age appropriate) before and discusses Christianity and our Church's stance on the significance of Baptism. The ceremony itself includes a statement where the parents (and God Parents if included) agree to raise the child in accordance with the Christian faith. The congregation then agrees to accept the child (or person being baptized) as members of the Christian family.

Sometimes they become members or at least frequent visitors to our Church. Sometimes we never see them again.

 

[StitchFanZ]

One thing to think about:
As much as I wanted to push my children to get babtized when they were younger, I didn't. I have a strong faith in God but am not a religious person(i.e. I don't feel the need to follow a bunch of man made rules). We chose a baby dedication when they were younger as an expression of our commitment to share our faith and raise them according to those principles.

I opted to teach my kids and give them the freedom of choice. Last summer, they both chose to be baptized as an expression of thier own faith at that ages of 15 and 16. They will remember that day at the river and it will have personal meaning for them the rest of their lives since it was their decision.

 

[Talking Hands]

We do not baptize babies only those who have made a profession of faith so only children and adults are baptized. We baptize by immersion either in the baptism pool at church or at a beach baptism that happens twice a year. Baptize more than 100 people at the beach baptisms. It is really neat but is also the only thing I will not interpret for the deaf as the water would be over my head.

 

[descovy]

I think the key is that baptism is "different" depending on the church... For one to say they know what baptism is all about, is to say they know of what it is all about in ONE church.

Some baptize babies. Those who baptize babies usually will baptize an older child/adult. My children were baptized as babies, I was baptized at 23 in the same church!

Churches who baptize babies, ask these young people to "confirm" or publically "state" their Christian faith and give a "Faith statement" basically saying, yes, I agree this is my faith. This is what I believe. In my church this is 3 years of classes, to which you make this "confirmation of faith" at roughly age 14.

Compare that to churches that don't baptize babies...

You would have a baby "dedication" but would wait for a person to conciously "ask" for the baptism, and say they believe. Simplistically, this parallels the previously described "baptized-baby-confirmed-adult" churches.

To ask to "When did you accept the lord to be you Savior?" is a phrase/thought not heard at my church. It's thought that we all are saved, whether we ask for it or not... To other churches it is the biggest phrase/concept.

I'm trying to keep this very general-non-specific (as this is a dis forum) But my point is that Baptism has different expectations/ requirements depending on the denomination. Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, Epicopaliens, Prespbyteriens, Lutherans, Pentacostals, etc... are all Christians. But they view the roles of baptism very differently among them. Baptism is not a one-size-fits-all Christian ceremony.