Saturday, 7th February 2009
It was a very special day.
Five years ago on 7th February 2004, our 2 oldest children made a decision to follow Jesus. I had the privilege to lead them through the sinner’s prayer and be the first to welcome them into the Kingdom. Daddy was working late that night and so envious! It happened after we did our devotions. They were 3.5 and 5.5 years old.
Fast forward to January 2009. It was announced at our newly formed church, Covenant Vision Christian Church that it would be holding its first baptismal service on …. 7th February 2009!
We didn’t want to pressure the children into being baptised but we did tell them that it certainly wasn’t a coincidence that the 1st baptism service was on 7th February.
So we left it to them to decide if they wanted to be part of the service or not. Child #2 was very open and agreeable to it. Child #1 was more hesitant. In fact he only decided on the final day of registration that he would be baptised. And we didn’t even know of his decision till we saw him at the briefing session!
And so, they were baptised.
You know what made it even more special? Dh was the one who baptised them!
Here are some pictures of the memorable day.
Sunday, 8th February 2009
The next day, at the Sunday service, Child #5 (almost 4) & #6 (20 mth old) were presented for dedication. Thankfully, no one cried! Lol!
All in all, it was a very eventful weekend and I am still trying to recover from it!
And if you are wondering about the children in between? They were dedicated back in 2003 and both made the commitment to follow Jesus in 2007, also together! And yes, I was again privileged to be the one who led them through the sinner’s prayer.
It really is quite awesome to be given this privilege to lead my own children to Christ. So I know how dh must feel to be given the honour of baptising his own children.
If you are wondering what our take on baptism is, we believe it is an outward declaration of an inward belief of one’s faith in Jesus Christ. It is not salvation, although it should follow as soon as one is saved through the name of Jesus Christ. More significantly, baptism is symbolic of our dying with Christ that we shall also live with and for Him as we are raised to new life.
As Paul writes in Romans 6:4, “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
And since we believe that one needs to be matured and accountable in taking that stand, we do not practice infant/child baptism but rather infant/child dedication. We dedicate the baby/child back to God who gave them to us. Promising to raise them up to be godly men and women who love Him and who will serve Him.
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Articles for the Christian SAHM can be found at Building Up Moms
0 comments on They Have Been Baptised!
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thanks for sharing
http://jimmybaringbing.wordpress.com
Congratulations! That is so lovely!
And i agree, what could be more wonderful than leading your own child to Christ?
My own 7yo dd has been asking about baptism but i want to be sure she is firm in her understanding of salvation first otherwise i think she would be skipping a step. I did lead her through the 4 spiritual laws when she was younger but I think I need to reinforce it now and lead her thru the sinner’s prayer again. What do you think? Do you think i should or just regard that what we did when she was younger was good? Frankly, i can’t remember exactly when we did it now, it was during a bedtime prayer time when she was 4+yo i think.
Thanks Ee Lin.
About your dd, what you can do is ask her WHY she wants to be baptised. And what does SHE think it means. Then you have a gauge on her maturity and understanding of the matter.
My oldest was resistant to the idea for many years and we found out after much probing that it is coz he didn’t like to have so many pple looking at him! Haha!