Preparing your child for baptism, confirmation or a different public faith commitment
How do we know when our children and teenagers are ready to make a public declaration of their faith, whether that's baptism, confirmation or something else?
For an episode of the Parenting for Faith podcast, we welcomed guest Christie Thomas (Little Shoots Deep Roots).
Christie shared helpful examples from her own family’s faith journeys as well as some guidance on how we might know when our own children are ready to make a public declaration of their faith.
In addition, Christie helpfully shared the nine sacred pathways (as outlined originally by Gary Thomas), and how they might relate to our children. Preparing your child for baptism (or an equivalent public faith commitment) may involve understanding how they best connect with God, and providing the space for such connection to happen.
The nine sacred pathways are:
- Naturalist – feels drawn to God outside, in nature
- Traditionalist – enjoys liturgy, rhythms and routines
- Enthusiast – might dance/sing exuberantly in worship
- Intellectual – worships through learning
- Care-giver – worships through serving others
- Activist – worships through standing up for others (deep sense of justice)
- Ascetic – needs quiet/simplicity to worship God
- Sensate – worships God through senses (music, incense, etc)
- Contemplative – quiet, reflective worshipper
Listen here:
Links from the episode:
- Christie’s website Little Shoots Deep Roots
- Follow Christie on Instagram
- Browse Christie’s books
- Sacred Pathways quiz
- Christie’s e-book: ‘Sacred Pathways for Kids’
- ‘Wow’ (Dandi Daley Mackall)
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