In my Christmas and Easter letters, I wrote on the theme of salvation and following Jesus. For all of my children ages 11 and up, I am continuing this theme into my May letters where I will be talking about baptism and sharing the story of my baptism. Here is what I wrote:
Hello, beautiful girl! How are you? I am well, thanks to God. I am writing this letter in May 2022. In my Easter letter, I wrote to you about being a follower of Jesus. Today, I want to write to you about one more part of that- baptism. Baptism is a celebration that the bible tells us to do when we become followers of Jesus, to declare our faith to others. Baptism is when you go somewhere like a river or pool and get dunked under the water. Going under the water symbolizes our sins being washed away and our old sinful spirits dying. When we rise up out of the water, it symbolizes being born again; which means starting life as a child of God. Have you been baptized, or do you want to? If you want to, please tell a leader at church, the sponsorship program, your family, or me when I visit.
I was baptized when I was 17 years old. My baptism was at the pool of a hotel near where I live. I was baptized by my pastor and his son. My mom and my friends came to watch. I wore a shirt with a cross on it that my sister painted for me. The shirt had the bible verse John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."
With this letter, I'm sending you a photo of my baptism. I'm also sending you a coloring page of some ocean waves, to remind you of baptism. You can color the waves, write prayers in between them or under them, or cut them out to use as a bookmark in your bible or decoration in your diary. While you do this, I encourage you to talk to God about baptism and all of the other ways you can celebrate your faith.
You can send any number of things along with this letter: photos of your own baptism, water-themed coloring pages or stickers, bible chapters mentioning baptism, and so much more.
And while I didn't do it this time due to space limits (I sent the letter by email to be printed for the children in country), you can also send baptism-related journaling prompts or questions for the child to dwell on if they are considering being baptized. If any of my children respond expressing interest in baptism, I will do this for them in the future. Some questions you can send are:
- Why do you want to be baptized?
- What do you think baptism means?
- What is sin?
- What is the consequence of sin?
- Do you believe that to be free from sin, be children of God, and go to Heaven, we need a perfect Savior (Jesus) to take that consequence for us?
- Do you believe that Jesus died to take this consequence for you and rose again to defeat sin?
- How can someone receive this free gift and become a Christian?
