After some recent discussions on the age of accountability and when a person is mature enough to be baptized, I believe there’s a point missing in much of our material on the subject:

We focus so much on what they need to know the moment they’re baptized when we shouldn’t forget to consider what they need to know the day after they’re baptized.

We talk about the idea of counting the cost and the lifelong commitment, but what can get lost in that is the biblical concept that salvation is not merely an individual pursuit.

When a person puts on Christ in baptism, God adds them to the church (Acts 2:47). When they’re added to the church, God expects that they will begin to bear the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), begin to grow toward maturity, and begin to contribute to the work of the church.

They are every bit as much one of those parts of the body Paul discussed in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 as anyone else. They are expected to be equipped by leadership and sent out in service to help their fellow Christians grow up into Christ (Ephesians 4:11-16). They are as subject to the “one another” commands as the rest of the congregation.

In short, they are functioning members of the body.*

The question is… how often are young Christians treated as such?

When a (for sake of example) 12-year-old is baptized, they often continue on in their grade-appropriate classes and activities with little responsibility placed on them to start being discipled by those who are ahead of them in the faith. For that reason, there’s also little responsibility or expectation for them to in turn use that learning to build up their fellow Christians. Many are essentially expected to “ride the bench” or be a part of some minor league version of church, waiting for their chance to be a part of the full team. Jesus didn’t come to be served but to serve. No Christian should be allowed to be served without being given the opportunity and the training to serve, either.

As for me, I was baptized just shy of 14 years old. From that point on, my walk was my own (aside from sermons, Bible classes, and talks with my family) and the idea that I would sooner rather than later be expected to start contributing to the building up of the body wasn’t even a consideration. I didn’t have that expectation of myself, and the church didn’t either. I’m fairly certain I’m not the exception in this. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t believe I am.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that leaving youth “on the bench” for a decade is a contributing factor to the church’s sizable dropout rate. That goes for the “I have a relationship with Jesus but don’t need the church” types, too. If their Christianity has little purpose or catalyst for growth beyond “try to be good” for the better part of a decade, it makes sense that they would fail to see how Christianity is relevant to their lives. They’re wrong, of course, but the line of thinking is understandable.

This leaves us two options: either a young person should wait until they’re older to be baptized, or we should raise our expectations of them if we continue to baptize them at younger ages. The one thing we can’t do is ride the fence, allowing people to be baptized at young ages while neglecting to disciple them into being functioning members of the church. We can’t let them “ride the bench” for years.

Both options have good arguments in their favor (and I personally am not sure which I would endorse at this point). It’s entirely possible that some in their early teens are ready to be discipled and start taking an active role in serving and encouraging their fellow members. What this looks like specifically and how their parents can take an active role in this is beyond the scope of this article, but the general principles are there.

On the other hand, if they aren’t ready to begin that journey, they haven’t counted the cost of discipleship and they aren’t prepared to be a fruit-bearing Christian. A Christian who doesn’t bear fruit isn’t something Jesus takes lightly (John 15:2).

So, can a 10 year old get baptized? A 12 year old? A 14 year old? A 16 year old? That’s up to you, and that’s up to the young people who have that decision to make. But it’s up to all of us to see a Christian (of whatever age) as somebody God expects to be on the path toward maturity and contributing to the church and let them know that this is an indispensable part of becoming a Christian. If they aren’t ready to start becoming a functioning member of the church, why would they be ready to become a Christian?


* This isn’t to say that they should be thrust into leadership roles or be burdened with unreasonable expectations on day one. The key word in this article is “begin” or “start.” If they aren’t ready to start that journey toward being a functioning member of the church, they aren’t ready.