I am working in a Presbyterian Church and grew up in a ELCA Lutheran Church so baptism is much more common as babies and rarely as adults, even more rarely as teenagers. I'm newer to working in the church world and slowly learning about other traditions. Grateful for these comments below, thanks everyone!
When I teach our baptism class, I tell the kids that baptism means belonging in many ways: belonging to God, belonging to yourself (as it is a decision in our tradition), belonging to a community, and belonging as a Baptist (we are also American Baptist). We also talk about it as a beginning step. When I'm talking to kids I compare it to girls who begin wearing the hijab when they hit puberty or our Jewish friends who have a bar or bat mitzvah. It is a way in our tradition for them to take on their faith as their own.
I love all of this! I am at the other end of the spectrum with kids who would rather die than stand in front of our church and have people "looking at them" while water is dribbled down their heads. (I should add that I was baptized as a teen per my parents urging and also felt intense embarrassment but did really want to do it so...lots of conflicting inner thoughts). My spouse and I will never force them to get baptized but we have discussed why other people do, what it means, etc. and it's still a firm no. Has anyone else gotten a similar response from their introverts?
I realize this conversation is a few months old but want to add my own experience as an introvert. As a teen I firmly refused to be baptized due to not wanting to have to “bare my soul” by giving a testimony in front of the whole church with many people I didn’t know. And, I have a phobia of being underwater, especially pushed under. None of those fears ever went away, but I finally did get baptized in my late 20s because I wanted to stop being worried and embarrassed that I was the only person at church my age to never get baptized. The minister was very kind and was able to pour water over me instead of “dunking” me so that did help. But honestly, I still found the experience anxiety inducing and it wasn’t really meaningful to me, just a check mark and feeling relieved I finally got it over with. So I’m wondering along with the kids…do you really have to get baptized? What if you really love and serve Jesus but baptism doesn’t feel like a fun celebration to you? My oldest is now 10 and has very similar feelings right now so I’m thinking about this all over again.
I am working in a Presbyterian Church and grew up in a ELCA Lutheran Church so baptism is much more common as babies and rarely as adults, even more rarely as teenagers. I'm newer to working in the church world and slowly learning about other traditions. Grateful for these comments below, thanks everyone!
When I teach our baptism class, I tell the kids that baptism means belonging in many ways: belonging to God, belonging to yourself (as it is a decision in our tradition), belonging to a community, and belonging as a Baptist (we are also American Baptist). We also talk about it as a beginning step. When I'm talking to kids I compare it to girls who begin wearing the hijab when they hit puberty or our Jewish friends who have a bar or bat mitzvah. It is a way in our tradition for them to take on their faith as their own.
I love all of this! I am at the other end of the spectrum with kids who would rather die than stand in front of our church and have people "looking at them" while water is dribbled down their heads. (I should add that I was baptized as a teen per my parents urging and also felt intense embarrassment but did really want to do it so...lots of conflicting inner thoughts). My spouse and I will never force them to get baptized but we have discussed why other people do, what it means, etc. and it's still a firm no. Has anyone else gotten a similar response from their introverts?
I realize this conversation is a few months old but want to add my own experience as an introvert. As a teen I firmly refused to be baptized due to not wanting to have to “bare my soul” by giving a testimony in front of the whole church with many people I didn’t know. And, I have a phobia of being underwater, especially pushed under. None of those fears ever went away, but I finally did get baptized in my late 20s because I wanted to stop being worried and embarrassed that I was the only person at church my age to never get baptized. The minister was very kind and was able to pour water over me instead of “dunking” me so that did help. But honestly, I still found the experience anxiety inducing and it wasn’t really meaningful to me, just a check mark and feeling relieved I finally got it over with. So I’m wondering along with the kids…do you really have to get baptized? What if you really love and serve Jesus but baptism doesn’t feel like a fun celebration to you? My oldest is now 10 and has very similar feelings right now so I’m thinking about this all over again.
I agree that I also felt like it was something checked off the list - like a "whew now I've done it" kinda feel. No answers but solidarity!
My 14-year-old is currently in this phase!
I bet this is super common-I'll be interested in what others say! It's yet another reason to be with kids on their time.