Your Child's Profession of Faith
One of God s greatest gifts to a child is to be raised by Christian parents in a great church family. As such a child grows up, however, it can be a great challenge to know when he or she is actually converted. Although, like everyone else, he or she was born a sinner, they can often spout out all of the right answers to gospel questions at a very young age. Do they understand the words they are mouthing? What constitutes real fruits of salvation in their lives? Are they ready to be baptized? Dennis Gundersen has written this wonderful book to provide vital practical help to parents and pastors in answering these important questions. The original edition has been one of my favorite resources on this question over the years; I welcome the extra help in this new expanded edition. -- John Crotts, Pastor, Faith Bible Church, Sharpsburg, GA and author of Mighty Men: The Starter s Guide to Leading your Family and Craftsmen: Skillfully Leading Your Family for Christ --John Crotts, Pastor, Faith Bible Church, Sharpsburg GAA Christian parent would sooner die than make a mistake with the soul of his or her child. And yet so often it s hard to distinguish the stirrings of the Spirit in the soul of a child from their natural curiosity about the things of God that they hear about at church and home. In other words, just because a child starts asking questions about God and the Bible doesn t necessarily indicate he is close to salvation, but may merely reflect the normal thoughtfulness of a growing child about what he s learning at church and home. Still, we always want to encourage and nurture any such godward interest as much as possible. Dennis Gundersen s book can help parents point a child to Christ, and guide them in walking along a biblical path that avoids manipulation and false assurance on the one hand, and presumption and neglect on the other. -- Donald S. Whitney, Associate Professor of Biblical Spirituality, Senior Associate Dean of the School of Theology, Southern Baptist Theological --Donald Whitney, Associate Professor, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KentuckyMy wife and I have been blessed with three biological children and eight adopted children, who were adopted between the ages of eight and fourteen, and from five different cultures. Your Child s Profession of Faith was very helpful to us in understanding the Biblical principles we needed to follow, to evaluate our children s professions of faith. Some of our children came from very complex religious backgrounds and having a principle-based method was essential in navigating the path that God had laid out for them. We have given or recommended numerous copies of this book to those who have asked us for parenting advice and it is one of the standard parenting resources in our church s library. Thanks, Dennis, for this updated version. -- Robert Edwards, software architect, husband, and father of eleven (eight of whom are adopted) --Robert Edwards, software architect, husband, and father of eleven (eight of whom are adopted)A Christian parent would sooner die than make a mistake with the soul of his or her child. And yet so often it s hard to distinguish the stirrings of the Spirit in the soul of a child from their natural curiosity about the things of God that they hear about at church and home. In other words, just because a child starts asking questions about God and the Bible doesn t necessarily indicate he is close to salvation, but may merely reflect the normal thoughtfulness of a growing child about what he s learning at church and home. Still, we always want to encourage and nurture any such godward interest as much as possible. Dennis Gundersen s book can help parents point a child to Christ, and guide them in walking along a biblical path that avoids manipulation and false assurance on the one hand, and presumption and neglect on the other.  -- Donald S. Whitney, Associate Professor of Biblical Spirituality, Senior Associate Dean of the School of Theology, Southern Baptist Theological --Donald Whitney, Associate Professor, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KentuckyMy wife and I have been blessed with three biological children and eight adopted children, who were adopted between the ages of eight and fourteen, and from five different cultures. Your Child s Profession of Faith was very helpful to us in understanding the Biblical principles we needed to follow, to evaluate our children s professions of faith. Some of our children came from very complex religious backgrounds and having a principle-based method was essential in navigating the path that God had laid out for them. We have given or recommended numerous copies of this book to those who have asked us for parenting advice and it is one of the standard parenting resources in our church s library. Thanks, Dennis, for this updated version.  -- Robert Edwards, software architect, husband, and father of eleven (eight of whom are adopted) --Robert Edwards, software architect, husband, and father of eleven (eight of whom are adopted)