Unbaptised 11-year old daugther wants to be baptised and join protestant church

[carn]

@all
Please no more discussion about baptising her without her consent.

When the original poster says that the ecclesial community is German, I can only speculate that we are speaking about some iteration of Lutheran.

To end speculation:
ekd.de/english/

And their requirements, i am not that interested in, as they are not that relevant for my fundamental problem:
After all necessary talk, discussions, explanations and whatever else i have to do anyway, cause i am responsible for her, and if she sticks with the plan
should i encourage her?

Thats the core question i have to find an answer to. And in the end, i am the only one capable of finding the answer, but i am a bit lost.

 

[Don_Ruggero]

@all
Please no more discussion about baptising her without her consent.

To end speculation:
ekd.de/english/

And their requirements, i am not that interested in, as they are not that relevant for my fundamental problem:
After all necessary talk, discussions, explanations and whatever else i have to do anyway, cause i am responsible for her, and if she sticks with the plan
should i encourage her?

Thats the core question i have to find an answer to. And in the end, i am the only one capable of finding the answer, but i am a bit lost.

Oh, I am so sorry. Here I made the presumption that you were American when I normally would never do that! Let me ponder this and I will send you a personal message.

 

[dskysmine]

@all
Please no more discussion about baptising her without her consent.

To end speculation:
ekd.de/english/

And their requirements, i am not that interested in, as they are not that relevant for my fundamental problem:
After all necessary talk, discussions, explanations and whatever else i have to do anyway, cause i am responsible for her, and if she sticks with the plan
should i encourage her?

Thats the core question i have to find an answer to. And in the end, i am the only one capable of finding the answer, but i am a bit lost.

Hello,
As I mentioned in my post I am in a similar position as you are (I am Portuguese, my wife is German - and a Baptist Pastor at that), but we can’t really tell you the answer to that question.
It has to be something that the three of you have to talk about together and maybe also alone (1 on 1) to discern.
You mentioned for example that this is the “middle” way, but it’s not clear on how this decision was arrived at.
I asked several questions to guide you in how to question yourself, your wife’s and your daughter’s motivations.
In the end it will bog down to the moment where after a long loving conversation between you and your daughter, she can tell you honestly something in the lines of “I really want to do this because …”. If you aren’t close enough to her that she can open up to you it won’t make such a big difference what you have to say.
You also don’t want to bribe your daughter…
Don’t make promises you can’t keep, and don’t speak about her mother’s community (I don’t usually call protestant “churches”) without her mother being present. That’s how I would do it.
By the way, if you guys are in NYC area let me know. I actually know the German Evangelist Lutheran Saint Paul’s Church in Manhattan (I was there this past weekend).

God bless,
D.

 

[Kal2012]

Yes - I would encourage her to have a relationship with Jesus. That’s all of us are really trying to do in the best way that we know how.

Based on the website you linked, it sounds like they are Lutheran which is very close to Catholicism.

I get that you are disappointed, but she can always choose Catholicism later in life and you don’t want to shut that door. She’d have to understand that she couldn’t take Holy Communion at your church and that you can’t take it at hers.

My husband and I had an interfaith marriage until I converted to Catholicism. He had a list of what churches he’d attend with me and which ones he wouldn’t and Lutheran was on his list. So, that tells me a lot about how closely related to Catholicism that church really is. He really wasn’t interested in attending a non-liturgical church and made that clear.

Our son was just baptized in the church this year and he’s 8. So, I totally understand why some families choose not to baptize right away.

Like others have suggested, it might be that all of her friends go to this church or she’s heard about how accepting they are of young people, so she wants to be a part of it.

My uncle told us a story recently about when he was living in a remote part of the Upper Peninsula in Michigan. He lived in a tiny town, not even a village, and he was talking to grandpa about why he wasn’t going to church as there wasn’t a protestant church around. He didn’t want to go to the Catholic church because “we aren’t Catholics”.

Grandpa said, “So? If it’s the closest church to you, then go to the Catholic church! You need to be in church!”

Needless to say, uncle was shocked and finds amusement in telling that story today.

My grandparents have always been role models of faith for me and this just gave me one more reason to thank them for their endless devotion to Christ.