We invite children that have come forward for baptism or who've recently been baptised.  We have lots of hands on activities to celebrate their baptism and introduce them to the responsibilities and expectations of church membership. I found lots of great resources through our denomination and rewrote it to be more R.E.A.L.

For example, while the children decorate their own tithing bank, we talk about giving back to God with our offerings and what it means to tithe. The children also make a memory box.  It has their baptism date and a picture of them with their parents. (We take the Family Photo during the class.) The children fill out a card that describes how they will serve God such as sing in the choir, pray for their Sunday school teachers, attend SS regularly, etc. While they make a bookmark, we talk about reading God's word daily. We also give them a card with special Bible scriptures special to the group.

When the parents join us, we have refreshments, then the children share what they made during the first hour and what they learned. We ask the parents to share with their child what they remember about their own baptism and when they asked Jesus to be their savior. The parents and children work together to make a foam craft of the Lord's supper.  We share the story of the first Lord's supper and have a special intimate communion for parents and children. After the communion, the parents make a prayer circle around the children. Each parent prays for their child and thanks God for their child by sharing something special about them. (That's the most precious part of the class.)

That's a rough sketch of how we make this Baptism or New members class a milestone event for our children and their parents.  The class is more of a celebration and first step introduction. We provide more in depth lessons on stewardship, missions, serving and personal faith development through prayer and Bible study as a part of our Sunday school curriculum.

Lisa B from NC