How to know if your child is ready for baptism and they understand what it means to accept Jesus. 

I attended the Good News Club training before our 2018 school year began. As an after-school volunteer and leader for the program I was required to go through their training program. I learned some great tips for teaching children about God and the Bible. One of the aspects of their training was talking to kids about what it means to accept Jesus. They spent a few minutes going over scripture and questions that are helpful to understand what it means to have Jesus in your heart. I took notes and actually marked the verses in my bible during the training. I was able to use this with my own child when we recently talked about accepting Jesus or having Jesus in your heart. 

Brielle has been asking to get baptized for at least a month now. Our church doesn’t do baptism weekly, so I let her know we would get her signed up the next time our church was doing baptisms. We were in the car at that moment and I recall thinking, I need to pull out my Bible and go through the questions and verses that I was taught at the Good News Club training.

The open-ended questions that are asked help you recognize whether a child fully understands the what it means to accept Jesus and commit their life to Him. It is their decision and they should make it on their own free will, or it is meaningless.

They also shouldn’t go forward to be baptized unless they can vocalize their personal profession of faith with full understanding of what it means. Below are the questions I learned to ask and I used with my daughter Brielle last month. Feel free to use these questions and verses with your own children or anyone for that matter. I will put the answers after the questions in parentheses. A child’s answers may differ a little, the goal is to use the questions to help distinguish whether or not they fully comprehend. If you see areas where they do not fully comprehend, then use it as opportunity to teach your child and discuss that particular area. You can use the answers provided and the verses to help clarify things for them. You can always revisit the questions in the future and discuss again, to see if they fully understand and are ready for a personal decision about their life commitment to Jesus and baptism. The decision is up to them, but you also want to ensure they understand what they are making their decision about.

Questions About Understanding God

  1. Who made you? (God)
  2. Who does God love? (Everyone, including me and you)
  3. Who is the only one who is absolutely perfect (God/Jesus)

Verse to Share:

Psalm 18:30 “As for God, his way is perfect: The LORD’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him.”

Transition Statement to the Next Topic:

God is our creator, He loves us, and he is Holy and perfect. However there is one thing that can never exist in Heaven. That is sin.

Understanding Sin

  1. What is sin? (Bad thoughts, bad words, and bad things that we do that break God’s laws and make Him sad)
  2. Who has sinned? (Everyone, including you and me)
  3. Can you name a sin you have done?
  4. What is the punishment for your sin? (Separation from God, see verse from Isaiah 59:2)

Verses to Share:

Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

1 John 1:8 “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”

Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities have separated you from God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.”

Transition Statement to the Next Topic:

But God had a wonderful plan, so that you don’t have to be eternally punished for your sin. You don’t have to be separated from God because of your sin.

Jesus

  1. What did Jesus do for you? (He died on the cross to pay for our sins)
  2. Why is He the only one who could die for you? (Because He is perfect and He is the son of God)
  3. What happened to Jesus after He died? (He rose from the dead, and then ascended to Heaven after 40 days, proving again that He was indeed the son of God)

Verses to Share:

I Corinthians 15:3-6 “I told you the most important part of the message exactly as it was told to me. This part is: Christ died for our sins, as the Scriptures say. He was buried, and three days later he was raised to life, as the Scriptures say. Christ appeared to Peter, then to the twelve. After this, he appeared to more than five hundred other followers.”

Transition Statement to the Next Topic:

Because of what the Lord Jesus did for you, you can have your sins forgiven.

A Personal Decision

Read aloud: John 1:12 “But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name.”

Express to them the following:

  • If you accept Jesus as your Savior, He gives you the right to be a part of God’s forever family, based on what is said in John 1:12.
  • To accept Jesus means that you believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died for your sins.
  • You are also believing that Jesus is the only one who could do that for you beause you a sinner and cannot do anything to get rid of your sins of your own merit. Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
  • Accepting Jesus means asking, God, His Son Jesus, and The Holy Spirit (God’s Spirit) to dwell in your heart, soul, and life. You are allowing God to change you on the inside.
  • It is a serious decision. One that you can only make for yourself.
  • You must confess with your mouth (out loud) that you believe in Jesus. Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Ask the Question:

Have you prayed to accept Jesus into your heart?

If they answer Yes: Ask them when and where it happened. Congratulate them on their life important life decision. The next step is baptism, which is discussed further below. You can also write down the date and information in their Bible or on a piece of paper so that there is a record of their important decision.

If they are not sure or say no: Ask them if they would like to ask Jesus into their heart today. Let them know that you can help them and guide them if they are ready pray, but only if they want to and they feel ready.

The Prayer

Commonly known and used are the ABC’s of accepting Jesus.

A: Admit

Admit to God that you are a sinner.

B: Believe

Tell God that you believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins.

C: Choose

Choose to ask God, His Son Jesus, and The Holy Spirit (God’s Spirit) to come live in you and make you God’s child.

Example Prayer

Dear God, I admit that I am a sinner. I am sorry for my sins. I believe that Jesus is your Son and that He died on the cross for my sins. I choose to invite You, Your Son, and The Holy Spirit to live in my heart, soul, and mind. Thank you God for allowing me to become a child of God and for sending Jesus to pay for my sins by dying on the cross. In Jesus Name, Amen

Make a Record of It

Make the moment meaningful. Congratulate them on praying the prayer and dedicating their life to God. It is the best decision they will ever make! Make a record of it. This isn’t something that is mandated in Scripture, but something that was taught at the Good News Club that is meaningful. Write down the date of their decision and what occurred. Put in on paper or write it in your child’s Bible as a record of this decision they made that affects their life for all of eternity.

Below is a photo of my daughter’s Bible and the decision that she made, along with the date of her baptism. There wasn’t a page in this Bible dedicated to this information, but the first blank page in her Bible worked just fine.

Baptism

Once a decision has been made and a person chooses to accept Jesus into their lives, then the next step is baptism. It is called a “Believer’s Baptism”. This means that once someone makes a decision to follow Christ, they can be baptized.

Mark 16:16 “Then He said “God into the world. Go everywhere and announce the Message of God’s good news to one and all. Whoever believes and is baptized is saved; whoever refuses to believe is damned.””

If you don’t attend a church that does believer baptisms, then now is a good time to find one. We attend a non-denominational church in Southlake called Gateway Church. Brielle was baptized there. I was baptized at the age of seven at First Baptist Church in Chippewa Falls, WI. It was recorded in my Bible too. There are many churches that baptize believers.

Ways to Grow

Once someone has accepted Jesus and been baptized it is not the end of their spiritual journey. Instead it is just the beginning. Spiritual growth in Jesus occurs when we read the Bible, we pray, and we attend a Bible believing church. We also grow by being obedient to God’s Word and telling others about what Jesus has done for us in our own lives.