Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me..."
Matthew 19:14
We believe that children are created in the image of God, and that they are in that image from the womb. However, born into the world that is fallen because of the sin of Adam and Eve, the child is subject to sin, both from within and from without (Gen. 3 and Romans 5:1-12).
Therefore, the child is in need to be placed “into Christ” (Romans 6:3) in order to be united to Christ’s resurrection (Romans 6:4; John 3:3-7) so that they may be “trained in nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). If a child is to be brought up and trained in the ways of the Lord, the child must first be “in the Lord”. We believe a person is placed in the Lord at their baptism, by which they are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise and made a member of Christ’s church (Ephesians 1:13-23).
We believe the Book of Common prayer is faithful to this biblical testimony. Therefore, the Book of Common Prayer is wise and right in upholding the ancient custom of the church to make disciples of children by bringing them as infants to the waters of baptism. We believe that at infant baptism the parents are acting in faith to give their child to Christ; and Jesus is responding by baptizing the child with the Holy Spirit. At the child’s baptism, the child’s parents, sometimes godparents, and even the whole church, commit to teaching the child the ways of Christ and raising up the child in the fellowship of the church.
The parents have the primary responsibility to teach the child the Holy Scriptures, the Lord’s Commandments, the Lord’s prayer, the Creed, and all the important elements of our faith. However, the parents do not bear this responsibility alone, since we are all members one of another, and as a local church are meant to be like a family. Therefore, the parents and the church are to work together to help the child grow in the ways of the Lord and the Christian faith.
Because of this deep belief that children are part of the church and are not outsiders and aliens to Christ, we believe in involving our children with the worship and activities of the church as much as possible. For this reason, we have developed two Sunday schools, which span the child’s life from ages 2-11 and are meant to acquaint them with the Biblical narrative they have now become a part of, while also preparing them for Confirmation.
During our Holy Communion service, we desire to incorporate our children in the worship, for they are just as much worshiping as we are. We do not have a separate children’s church, and our goal is to have them out of the nursery by the age of 3, so that they can be full participants in everything the church is doing. If a child is having a hard time sitting still and obeying, we have a back room where the parent is welcomed to take the child until they are calm and ready to enter again the worship. But we expect some noise at times, and see it as a sign of a living and vibrant church, that is blessed with the care of God’s “little lambs.”
Therefore, the child is in need to be placed “into Christ” (Romans 6:3) in order to be united to Christ’s resurrection (Romans 6:4; John 3:3-7) so that they may be “trained in nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). If a child is to be brought up and trained in the ways of the Lord, the child must first be “in the Lord”. We believe a person is placed in the Lord at their baptism, by which they are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise and made a member of Christ’s church (Ephesians 1:13-23).
We believe the Book of Common prayer is faithful to this biblical testimony. Therefore, the Book of Common Prayer is wise and right in upholding the ancient custom of the church to make disciples of children by bringing them as infants to the waters of baptism. We believe that at infant baptism the parents are acting in faith to give their child to Christ; and Jesus is responding by baptizing the child with the Holy Spirit. At the child’s baptism, the child’s parents, sometimes godparents, and even the whole church, commit to teaching the child the ways of Christ and raising up the child in the fellowship of the church.
The parents have the primary responsibility to teach the child the Holy Scriptures, the Lord’s Commandments, the Lord’s prayer, the Creed, and all the important elements of our faith. However, the parents do not bear this responsibility alone, since we are all members one of another, and as a local church are meant to be like a family. Therefore, the parents and the church are to work together to help the child grow in the ways of the Lord and the Christian faith.
Because of this deep belief that children are part of the church and are not outsiders and aliens to Christ, we believe in involving our children with the worship and activities of the church as much as possible. For this reason, we have developed two Sunday schools, which span the child’s life from ages 2-11 and are meant to acquaint them with the Biblical narrative they have now become a part of, while also preparing them for Confirmation.
During our Holy Communion service, we desire to incorporate our children in the worship, for they are just as much worshiping as we are. We do not have a separate children’s church, and our goal is to have them out of the nursery by the age of 3, so that they can be full participants in everything the church is doing. If a child is having a hard time sitting still and obeying, we have a back room where the parent is welcomed to take the child until they are calm and ready to enter again the worship. But we expect some noise at times, and see it as a sign of a living and vibrant church, that is blessed with the care of God’s “little lambs.”
