Is Church A Place For Children?

“And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.” (Mark 10:13-14)

Baptismal fonts across Scotland and the early Americas were often engraved with Mark 10:14 (or Matthew 19:14) upon their side because of their historic belief in covenant theology and infant baptism. These are not mere theological discussions, but this forms a direct connection between Jesus’ actions and our own today. Before we make that connection, let me make a small point about infant baptism.

The Bible is one book with one story about one Savior and the one salvation He accomplished for His one people. Paul explicitly states that Abraham had the gospel preached to him, and the Israelites in the wilderness heard the “good news [that] came to us just as to them.” (Gal. 3:8; Heb. 4:2). From the very beginning of God’s gracious covenantal dealings with man, God included children into that covenant community. We recall Genesis 17 whereby Abraham was given the sign of circumcision as “a seal of the righteousness he had by faith,” and this sign was applied to Abraham and to his children (Rom. 4:11; cf. Gen. 17:8). Throughout the Old Testament, this sign served not as a pledge of their obedience to God; rather, this sign served as a pledge of the promise-keeping God to them. Circumcision did not mean that every child would be saved, but it did mean that every child would be part of a community in which they heard the gospel and were pointed daily to the promise-making and promise-keeping God.

For almost two thousand years, this continued. When we reach Acts 2, Peter repeats to the crowd the same promise first given in the giving of circumcision; however, Peter repeats this promise in connection with baptism (Acts 2:38-39; cf. Col. 2:11-12). Now, you would think that if God were to no longer include children in the covenant community, He would say something. In fact, we hear crickets. Instead, we find families added to the church in Acts (16:15, 33; 1 Cor. 1:16). As J.C. Ryle states: “The very fact that Jesus says nothing about the age for baptizing goes far to prove that He intended no change to be made.” Yes, in this one story about a one Savior who accomplished one salvation for His one people, we should expect that He would continue doing the same thing unless explicitly commanding otherwise.

Now, how does that affect us now? The disciples hindered the children; Jesus encouraged the children to come. The disciples saw the children as a burden. They couldn’t participate, they were noisy, they wouldn’t sit still. But Jesus saw that these children had a right to come to Him because God made a promise to them. They had every right to squirm and squeal in worship because God claimed them as part of His covenant community. Isn’t that what God does? He doesn’t save mature, well-mannered people; God saves sinners. Dead sinners, deaf sinners, hard-headed and hard-hearted sinners. Be it circumcision in the Old Testament or baptism in the New, we are reminded that God comes to us in our weakness and does not allow our weakness to be a hindrance in coming to Him.

Is this reflected in our churches and her many activities? Do we sequester our children somewhere else until their teenagers, or do we invite them in from as young as possible? Do we nurture them in the knowledge of the Lord, or do we assume they are too young? Could it be that many of our younger people are walking away from the faith because we didn’t encourage their faith at their youngest? Let us not hinder them; rather, let our churches be like Christ and encourage them to come.