Our Household Baptism

I have three children who I am thrilled to say have all become Christians. None of them, however, have been baptized. But that’s about to change.

This Sunday (on Mother’s Day) my husband Nathan will be baptizing all three of my children at our church. To say it will be a special day for me doesn’t even begin to cover it.

Our children all asked Jesus to be in charge of their lives on separate occasions and in very different circumstances. (I plan to write more about that later.) It was through a series of factors and snags over the years that none of them have been baptized. The timing never worked out or seemed right. We never made a conscious decision to wait and do this all at once, but now I’m so thrilled this is happening for them as a little family group.

In the bible there are multiple examples of “household baptisms” where someone believed in Jesus and then they were baptized, along with their household. This was the case with the Phillippian jailer in Acts and also with Lydia in Acts 16. There are other examples too.  This doesn’t mean that I believe this is the only way or the right way to do it. There are certainly other examples of individuals being baptized, and there are lots of varying viewpoints on the subject of baptism in general. But there are cool stories of whole families getting baptized in the bible, and that’s kind of meaningful to me.

Even though Nathan and I have already been baptized, having all three kiddos do this together feels a lot like my household.  It is a statement that my family believes. Our society has become so focused on the individual that we sometimes miss the value there is in the collective group. I love that while my kids each have a unique story and relationship with Christ, they can be baptized together and we can testify even more powerfully as an entire household of the ways God is working in our lives.