As believers in Jesus Christ, we realize that we are constantly called to grow; and constantly called to be more and more like Jesus by way of a process that we call sanctification. The more we grow, the more we desire for others to grow in the knowledge of Jesus; in the hope that they become Christians. And for parents, that desire is especially strong for their children. Think about it, as parents, we look forward to the day that they place their faith and hope in the finished work of Jesus Christ. We also look forward to the sweet day of watching our little ones go to the waters of baptism. With that being said, we tend to understand what it means to become a Christian; however, there seems to be a shroud of mystery of “when” should our children be allowed to join in the sacraments of baptism and The Lord’s Supper. 

There is a lot of debate surrounding baptism and Lord’s Supper (aka: communion). With that being said, our hope is that we would be consistent with both of them.  We’ve noticed that there are times when some families will encourage their children to take communion even though they do not believe that child is yet ready to be baptized.  And sometimes the reverse happens as well.

However, since Good News Church believes and practices “believer's baptism” and “believer’s communion” it makes more sense to us to be consistent with these sacraments. In other words, if you believe your child does not yet fully believe the gospel and/or live for Jesus in such a way that they ought to be baptized, then they shouldn’t be taking communion either.  Conversely, if your child has been baptized because they profess belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, then they are also probably ready to think through the instructions in 1 Corinthians 11 and partake in the Lord’s Supper:

“Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.”
~ 1 Corinthians 11:28-30

We also want to be fair to those who want their believing children (even if they are baptized) to wait on communion.  We realize that there is a warning in Scripture that surrounds the Lord’s Supper that isn’t mentioned regarding baptism.  So, we can understand how some parents might want to be extra careful in making sure their child is old enough to take communion in a worthy manner, even if they’ve been baptized.  The Bible says that a person must be able to discern the body of Christ. We think it is natural for you to want to really make sure your believing children are able to do that.

So, what’s the point? Well I guess it is this… Both communion and baptism are important because Christ gave them to us. So we should do our best to make sure we are not making one more important than the other. We make sure to do that by being consistent in the way we talk with our children about baptism and communion.