Christian baptism by the age of 5 years old

The purpose of this scheme is to provide a framework for affirming the expectations of non‑churchgoing parents arising from the tradition of Christendom in England that children should be welcomed and baptized on demand. This perspective of parents is associated with a folk or implicit religion, and when ignored produces hurt and a feeling that their children are being rejected and likewise themselves as parents also. The English Church is intended for the English nation, but increasingly it appears to be only for existing churchgoers and their children. Naturally, the concern that Christian baptism should be effective in the lives of all the baptized involves inevitably attempts to achieve this. Sometimes the parish church is very attractive and welcoming to the non‑churchgoer, but still the dilemma remains of how to ensure that the children themselves of non‑churchgoers receive a 'quality' baptism which includes all that genuine initiation comprises.

The intention of the scheme is to maintain infant baptism doctrinally but to provide a delay sufficient to allow more time for an improved understanding on the part of the parents and on the part of the children. Fixing the age at four or five years old is not sacrosanct but a convenient way of indicating that the children are not expected to fully understand and thus be baptized as believers according to the concept of believers' baptism. Rather the children are infants that can now speak, hear, walk and experience the baptismal occasion. Moreover there seems to be merit in seeking to establish the tradition of a religious 'rite of passage' to coincide with the child's entry into full‑time education. Children of age two or three are often in playgroups, but the major step for a child is usually at the age of four or five.

Although it will obviously be necessary to maintain the baptism of infants for use in emergencies as hitherto, the phasing out of baptizing actual infants in favour of baptizing children of four or five should have a long‑term benefit. Certainly the thanksgiving service should not replace infant baptism but rather be a pastoral and instructional means for ensuring that the covenantal commitment of baptism is properly understood. Parents and godparents should be assured also that their children would be baptized immediately as a matter of urgency if a life threatening operation or illness occurred. Otherwise, they themselves and the child should gain from being able to appreciate the baptism occasion if this were postponed for a short time. The child's own memory of the baptismal occasion should prove a lasting quality experience into adulthood, especially if the baptism ceremony incorporates chrism, candles and clothing 'with a white robe' after baptism (Common Worship, 1998, p.25).