It is sometimes assumed (wrongly) that Baptists only baptise adults. It’s true that some Baptists won’t baptise children, but that is a point of debate. Indeed, those who baptise only adults are in the minority. The point of universal agreement amongst Baptists is that they will only baptise professing believers. For this reason, none of them baptise infants who are unable to profess anything. However, there is some disagreement thereafter over whether a professing child might be baptised and welcomed into membership.

For my part, I am of the persuasion that there is no age-limit in scripture and no oft-cited “age of responsibility”. What I see in scripture is professing believers being baptised and added to the church. Whilst there is no specific textual reason to insist this must be so, I am inclined to agree with paedobaptists that the household baptisms probably did include children (and slaves). However, I think there is specific explicit textual reason to insist that everybody who was baptised in those houses was a professing believer and that there were, therefore, no infants among their number (but that is another discussion for another post). Further, I think all the arguments against adding professing believing children could be applied to, for example, the professing believing mentally impaired or a number of other people. Taken in the round, this leads me to believe professing believing children can be baptised and added to the church in membership.

The question is, then, what does one do with them? Can professing believing children be “full members” or ought they to have some sort of junior membership? If so, what should that look like? Again, it bears saying all these same questions arise if you think it is legitimate to welcome into membership anybody who is not fully compos mentis. That is before you run into questions about just how compos mentis one might have to be. Take my depressive illness as an exemplar. Does mental ill health exclude one from membership – just as it might a child – because they are not in full control of their faculties? Again, as I look at the scripture, I don’t see a specific level of understanding required nor any checks on the intellectual rigour or mental capacity of the professing believer. Those who profess Jesus as Lord, God and saviour seem to be admitted to the church on the same terms as everyone else on that basis alone.

On that basis, it seems to me that professing children with a credible testimony ought to be permitted baptism and simultaneously (for that is what baptism is) admitted to full church membership where they can enjoy the privileges and responsibilities. That is, they may partake of communion, receive pastoral care and serve alongside other members of the church. They should equally be subject to church discipline just as any other member would be subject to church discipline. Indeed, the strongest argument against the admission of children is that we ought not to admit anybody we would not be willing to remove. I think that is a good and legitimate argument; it is the weakness of the implication that is unwilling to remove a child in persistent and unrepentant sin or who no longer professes Jesus as Lord and saviour to be the problem here.

In terms of their involvement in church life, I would not treat children any differently to the adults. Just as I do not expect every adult to serve and engage in the same way, but we expect each to serve and involve themselves in church life according to their abilities (including taking account of all manner of things like life-stage, availability, and such like), so we would take account of this with the children. Would I expect them to serve? Yes. But I expect them to serve in line with their capacity. Do I expect them to give? Again, yes, but in line with their capacity. These things are true for the adults too. So, yes, we make allowances for children, but the same kind of allowances that we make for adults. We expect all the same things in line with their capacity for those things.

As I judge it, professing believers are the right and proper candidates for baptism. Those who are baptised as professing believers are then added to the church and given all the rights and responsibilities of church membership. There are no age-limits or half-memberships floated anywhere in scripture. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. The question is not ‘what do we do with children?’ but rather ‘where do professing children belong and where do unbelieving children belong?’ Biblically there are baptised believers who belong to the church and there are unbelievers who rightly remain outside of it. The Bible leaves no room for professing believers who cannot be baptised and remain outside the church. The question then is: if we are sure unbelieving children ought not to be included, where do we want to put believing ones?