Dear parents,
We understand that some of you maybe concerned regarding the salvation and baptism of your 6th grade child now the 6th Grade Conference for 2020 has been canceled due to the pandemic. Year after year, the 6th Grade Conference has been a very special time for the 6th graders, yet we must be careful not to limit the Lord's calling of our children to the time of the conference. Now is a good time to be reminded that we do not rely on the conference for the children in the Lord's recovery to be saved. We must rely on the Lord's timing, convicting, and calling of our children.
Over the years we have noticed that many of the 6th graders had already received the Lord prior to the conference through their family members or serving ones. The conference became a time to encourage any unsaved ones to be saved. For those who were already saved, the conference helped them to appreciate and understand more about their salvation. In recent years we have begun to use the latter part of the conference to focus on helping the 6th graders, as new believers, lay a good foundation for their Christian living and to have a good entrance into the church life. This year, because the conference is canceled, it will depend, more so than ever, upon the parents and vital groups in the churches to lead the 6th graders who are ready for salvation and to prepare them for their baptism. With that in mind, we would like to share the following points with you:
1. Prayer: There is always much prayer before and during the 6th grade conference. We encourage the parents to pray together and with their vital groups for their child's salvation and baptism. Pray for the Holy Spirit to convict them concerning their sins and for each one to believe in their heart and confess with their mouth that the Lord has died for their sins.
2. A personal and definite experience of salvation: After praying we need to speak a simple gospel word to impress the 6th graders concerning the matter of sin, God's judgment on sin and the Lord Jesus being the Savior. We do not want to force the children to pray with us and neither do we want to scare them to be saved. We must allow the Holy Spirit to do His convicting work. At the conference we are burdened that each child would be convicted about specific sin(s) and that they would realize the Lord died to save them from the judgment of their sins. Before leading your child to pray to be saved, it would be good to ask them regarding specific sin(s) about which they are convicted. After they confess their sin(s) you should lead them to pray with the realization that the Lord died to pay the price for those sins. This helps their salvation experience to be personal and definite rather than general. For those who are already saved we lead them to pray to confess their sins to the Lord, to thank the Lord for dying for those sins, and for forgiving them. Again the focus is on helping them to have a personal and definite experience of confessing their sins and being assured that the Lord has forgiven them.
The following are some key verses you can use to present a simple gospel message. We suggest that you do not cover all the verses at one time. It maybe necessary to have 2 or 3 short times of speaking with your child to allow the living Word and the convicting Spirit to operate in them.
- We are all sinners - Romans 3:10-12, 23; Proverbs 20:9
- All sinners will be judged by God - Romans 3:19; Ezekiel 18:4b, Revelation 21:8b
- Jesus took all our sins on Himself on the cross - John 1:29, 1 Peter 2:24; Ephesians 1:7; Isaiah 53:5-6.
- We must believe Jesus is the Savior and confess our sins to the Lord - Proverbs 28:13; Acts 3:19; 1 John 1:8-9
- God forgives us and our sins are wiped away - Isaiah 43:25; Psalm 103:12
3. Baptism: If you feel that now is the right time for your child to be baptized, we ask that you take care of the following: a) Before baptizing your child it is very important that you and others confirm that the child has believed in the Lord as their Savior. For this point, we encourage parents to not trust their own judgment but to seek fellowship with other members of the Body. After there is the assurance that the child has believed in the Lord, there can then be the consideration regarding when and how to baptize the child; b) If it is not possible to gather with others due to ongoing restrictions related to pandemic, in fellowship with the leading brothers, the child could be baptized at home by believing parents. It would be good to use a video conference call application for your vital group to witness the baptism, so the child can have a public testimony of their believing in the Lord and their baptism before family and the saints.
4. After they are saved: Now that your child is saved it is crucial that they are helped to have a good start to their Christian life and the church life. We have attached a sheet with this letter, which provides a list of seven practices to encourage new believers to build up immediately. We strongly recommend that you help your child to have a weekly time with some companions to read the Bible and join a small group meeting where they can be shepherded by saints of all ages.
We posted some short gospel videos and materials on the SCYP website to help the parents and serving ones. May we all seek the Lord for His gaining of the next generation.
The brothers serving for the 6th Grade Conference
