Is This Young Person Ready to Be Baptized? Clarifying Questions and Considerations for Churches
July 2, 2026
July 2, 2026
Abstract: Scott Daniel offers three clarifying questions and some related reflections to help churches evaluate whether a young person is ready to be baptized. This decision ultimately falls to the church, which must consider whether a young person is prepared to follow Jesus, whether they can fulfill the responsibilities of church membership, and whether they would be willing to remove the young person from membership as an act of discipline. It is wise to move slowly when making such decisions.
Have you discovered that it’s often difficult to know when a young person is ready to be baptized and partake of the Lord’s Supper? Granted, there are a variety of factors to consider for each individual, and faithful churches and Christians may disagree on how to approach this question. Regardless, I’d like to propose three questions and some related reflections for your church’s elders to consider as you examine younger baptismal candidates
Jesus makes it clear that before someone makes the public commitment to follow him, that person needs to know and embrace what a life of following Jesus will require from him (Luke 14:25–33). Just think of the temptations you’ve faced as a Christian and to which you’ve had to say no: love of money, sexual sin, idolatry, etc. There’s a cost to a lifetime of saying no to these things.
Remember, Jesus isn’t like the credit card company that sets up shop on a college campus trying to get students to sign on the dotted line without reading the fine print. No, Jesus forces potential converts to stare at the fine print before signing on (Luke 9:57–62)! We tend to think that there’s not much difference between the one who never claimed to follow Jesus and the one who claimed to follow Jesus but then later reneged. But the Lord tells us differently: “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’” (Luke 14:28–30). In other words, don’t start what you can’t finish.
Jesus’s response to the crowds at the end of John 2 is also helpful in this regard, as there were “many” who “believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing” (John 2:23). A huge crowd says they want to follow Jesus! We might be tempted to go ahead and fill the baptismal tank, but Jesus does the opposite: “. . . [he] did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man” (vv. 24–25). Many in the crowd thought they wanted to follow Jesus, but he had reason to doubt that they “counted the cost.” So to return to the original question, Can this young person count the cost of a life of following Jesus?
The Lord’s Supper signifies that all the individual partakers are part of one body (1 Cor. 10:17), and being part of his body brings with it certain responsibilities (1 Cor. 12). And, significantly for this conversation, these responsibilities are “one-size-fits-all.” That is to say, these responsibilities pertain to all members. As far as the New Testament is concerned, there’s no “kid’s meal” version of church membership. Therefore, elders should clearly communicate the New Testament’s commands about church membership to all potential members to see if they are willing and able to fulfill these commands.
Some questions to consider: Will this person be able to deliberate over and affirm the decision to remove a fellow member on account of adultery? Less dramatic but more common, Would she be able to point out to a fellow member when she sees a pattern of sin? What about voting to dismiss the long-time pastor because he’s decided to deny justification by faith alone in Christ alone? If someone isn’t ready to carry out these biblically mandated responsibilities, then they’re not yet ready for membership. Can this young person fulfill these kinds of responsibilities?
The worst-case scenario for any church member, regardless of age, is that he or she would fall into unrepentant sin. In such cases, the church must obey Jesus’s instructions for church discipline (Matt. 18:15–20). Thus, in the same way that a medical doctor shouldn’t take on a patient unless he’s willing to give her the news about her cancer, the church shouldn’t take in a member to whom they won’t give the news about her unrepentant sin (see 1 Cor. 5:5). If, out of love, you’re willing to give someone the Supper, then you must be willing, out of love, to withhold it. Ask yourself, Would our church practice church discipline on this particular young person?
Then related to this is a second question: Should our church practice excommunication on this young person? Every culture recognizes that there are certain processes and consequences to which minors shouldn’t be subjected—for the simple reason that they are not yet adults! It’s worth considering, then, whether the instant transformation of this young person’s relationships with the adult Christians in his life should be reserved for a time closer to adulthood (Matt. 18:17; 1 Cor. 5:9–13; 2 Thes. 3:14).
None of the above points would matter much if God had told us that each individual was supposed to be the final authority on their spiritual standing before him. If that were the case, when an elder met with someone for baptism and membership, the only question would be, Do you think you’re ready for this? But this is exactly what John the Baptist doesn’t do when he refuses to baptize the crowds who come out to him (Luke 3:7–17). It’s what Jesus doesn’t do in John 2 when he refuses to entrust himself to the crowd that “believes” in him (John 2:23–25). In short, the decision to publicly recognize someone as a Christian involves more than just that individual and the Lord. Matthew 18:15–20 makes it clear that it takes a church to “bind” and “loose.”
I’ll close with two reasons why, when it comes to young people, moving slow is better than moving fast. First, there is an explicit warning against someone taking the Lord’s Supper when she shouldn’t (see 1 Cor. 11:29–30). Therefore, we need to be confident that those who come to the table will be able to come in a right manner.
Second, one’s righteous standing before the Lord is in no way based on baptism, the Lord’s Supper, or church membership—much like it isn’t based on any aspect of our obedience (Gal. 2:15–3:14). Our relationship with the Lord is built entirely on God’s saving work in Jesus Christ, which we receive through faith. So when wisdom requires, we can wait on baptizing a young person without fearing that we are putting them in spiritual danger, for we know that it’s God who justifies the ungodly (Rom. 4:5).