Hickory Bible Church is committed to biblical truth as our infallible guide in all matters of doctrine and practice. There are some matters that require greater wisdom and discernment when there is not specific instruction in the Bible on said practice. One such matter is the age at which a born-again believer should be baptized. The purpose of this statement is to clarify our church’s position on a question which is frequently asked of elders - “When can my child be baptized?"

We believe the totality of teaching on baptism in the New Testament suggests the normal pattern for the church is an adult believer’s baptism by immersion. The Bible commands all Christians to be baptized as an act of obedience through a public testimony of their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior (Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 2:38). Baptism does not give eternal life, (nor can it, as is clear from the exchange Jesus has with the “thief on the cross” in Luke 23:43), but it is the believer’s public confession of becoming a “new creature in Christ” (II Corinthians 5:17) and of being “born again” (John 3:3). Believer’s baptism by immersion (Acts 8:36-39) is a sincere witness of a person proclaiming personal faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior, and his union with Christ in death to sin and resurrection to a new life (Romans 6:1-11). It is also a sign of fellowship and identification with the visible Body of Christ (Acts 2:41-42).

When it comes to when a believer should be baptized, we understand that Scripture provides no “minimum age” for that to happen, therefore we believe that wisdom and prudence must be exercised on that issue as it is not directly addressed by Scripture. Though many baptisms in the New Testament seem to have occurred soon after the initial conversion, the timing of a baptism must not overwhelm the truth of who baptism is for – a born-again believer who can give clear testimony of the gospel transforming his or her life in deed and in truth . We recognize there is a danger in discouraging younger children who do give biblical evidence of being converted and yet are not baptized, but through faithful teaching in the home, and through the loving discipleship of the families in the church, that danger is small.

Behind the question of age of baptism is the difficulty it is to recognize true salvation in children. Rather than rushing them into baptism after an initial profession, it is wise to take time to live with them and wait for clear evidence of conversion. Even if a child can state in a testimony to make it reasonably clear that he understands the gospel, baptism can wait until he manifests evidence of regeneration that is independent of parental control. Since baptism can be seen as something clear and final, our concern is that when a younger child is baptized he may to look to that experience as proof that he was saved. Therefore, in the case of an unregenerate child who is baptized—which is not uncommon in the church at large—baptism actually does a disservice.

It is wise to wait until the reality to which baptism testifies can be more easily discerned.

On a practical level, if your child does desire to be baptized, we desire for the request to be

1.) Initiated by the child and not under any coercion from the parents, 2.) Affirmed by believing parents in total agreement there is a transformation that only comes through faith in Jesus Christ, and 3.) Agreement from the elders and leadership of the child’s church ministry that gives testimony to a changed life. We realize that this is an issue of great importance, and we are in no way trying to lead anyone to disobey their conscience on this matter. We are trying to inform all of our consciences from the Scriptural necessity of a credible profession of faith for baptism.