How to Talk With Your Children About Baptism and Communion

If you find your child asking questions about baptism and communion but are unsure how to respond, here are some brief explanations that might help.

Communion

Help your child understand that communion is a reminder, both for individual believers and the church family as a whole, of Jesus’ sacrifice in their place for sin.

The bread is not Jesus’ actual body. The juice is not Jesus’ actual blood. They are symbols.
Jesus told His followers to remember Him in this way until He returns so that their hearts would be strong in believing that Jesus is their only hope. He wanted them to remember that faith in Him is all that is needed in order to be forgiven for sin and brought into relationship with the Father.

Baptism

Help your child understand that baptism is an act of obedience for those who have already been saved.

Baptism tells a story of being rescued from sin by Jesus through faith in His death and resurrection.
Being baptized does not save you. Placing your faith in Jesus alone saves you. Baptism is a picture of what God has already done in the heart of a believer.
When someone is baptized, that person shares a brief testimony so that other believers might hear of God’s grace, rejoice in His saving work and worship Him together.

It might also be helpful to explain to your child what they see when someone is baptized.

When the person stands in the water before being baptized, that represents their life before trusting Jesus. They were alive to sin, following and obeying it as their master.
When the person is put completely underneath the water, that represents the fact that they died to sin when they became a believer; they turned away from sin to follow Jesus.
When the person comes up out of the water and is completely wet, that represents the new life they have because of Jesus. They have been washed clean from sin – not because their bodies are wet but because they have been forgiven by God because of Jesus’ death in their place.