Although the “age of accountability” is not so much an ethical question as a theological one, I felt that this work could not proceed without some thought given to this subject and our ethical response. 

The Bible does not use the term “age of accountability,” nor does it imply that there is one mystical age frame during which children suddenly understand and are drawn to a decision for or against God.  Edward Hayes writes, “An “age of accountability” is not taught in the Scriptures. In fact, the basis for it is only a logical inference. If we accept the biblical teaching of original sin as related to an Adamic nature, we infer that the infant is born in sin, needs divine grace, and is ultimately accountable for that sin.”  The inference in our movement always leans towards the person, young or old being a sinner in need of God’s grace.  I am partial to William Hendricks’s teaching as he states, “The term “age of accountability” means a time or period of life when one is aware enough of God’s presence to respond to Him.”

The question always arises, at what time can a child become aware enough to be saved?  How old must he be before we teach him to love scripture and the message it brings?

Irish children’s evangelist Sam Doherty penned, “The Bible does not give an age, and neither should we.  Children differ from each other.  But the Lord Jesus did speak about little ones trusting him (Matthew 18:6).  So the age when a child can trust Christ is generally much lower than what many Christians believe.”  The age of a child may very well be a factor, but in my experience conscious accountability has more to do with maturity level than chronological age.  Assemblies of God Pastor, Richard Dresselhaus tells us in his 1973 book, Teaching for Decision,

“Obviously, it is impossible to determine a uniform age when all children reach this point of awareness.  The rate of growth and maturity varies radically, according to ability and background.  Some children have a basic comprehension of the gospel at age four or five.  Others may reach the age of ten before they seem ready to grasp the message of the gospel.  At any rate, salvation is conditioned upon some ability to understand the basic plan of salvation.  This is true for children as well as adults.”

My own children professed Christ as Savior for the first time at ages three through five.  Granted, each one had a different understanding.  I do not believe that my children understood justification or the substitutionary atonement.  But each one understood God’s love as demonstrated through parental love and reinforced by loving teachers and leaders in the church.  The message, “Jesus love me this I know,” was pretty much all they needed for that first time profession of faith.

William Hendricks shows us this when saying, “Tests of children’s alertness and ability are illustrating that children mature at different ages and according to their individual capacity.  This fact does away with all attempts to establish a given and fixed chronological age as the time of accountability.”

So we’ve established that there is not designated age of accountability in Scripture and that sometime in childhood, people reach an age of awareness and are therefore accountable to God.  Lawrence Richards declares, “We ought to consider the possibility of children giving a true faith response to God without formal understanding of what is involved in our formulations of the gospel.  A child’s simple response to Jesus may be analogous to the faith response of so many through history who have not understood the cross, but who have met God in the more simple Word he spoke to them, and who have believed.”

We have also come to the juncture where ethics come into play.  If we are uncertain as to when a child can understand and accept salvation, then we have an ethical responsibility to do what we can to see that child come to Christ at as early an age as possible.  Let me put it another way, if a child reaches the age of accountability and does not accept Christ as Savior, that child may spend eternity without Christ.  He may go to hell.  Our ethical imperative, as it relates to the age of accountability, is to present the Gospel to children so they can make a decision for salvation.

The church must involve itself in pre-evangelism training of the young children.  From the time they are born, we can begin to surround them with the message of God’s love.  This happens as caring, loving workers serve the children week after week.  All of this time, the church is reinforcing what is happening in the home.  Lawrence Richards emphasizes this when injecting, “We can never overestimate the importance of the relational climate.  This climate is perhaps the most powerful single influence in child development.  Wrapped in the love of parents and valued by other adults in the close-knit faith community, each child was gently guided to and nurtured in faith.”

Can we allow boys and girls the possibility of spending eternity in hell?  No! In an interview for an Assemblies of God publication a few years back, Pastor-Evangelist Tommy Barnett answers, “Our number one priority in children’s ministry is soul winning.  As soon as children begin coming to church, we tell they must have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.”  This begs the question, “How?” 

My first response is that we cannot force this issue.  “Transformation is a work of the Holy Spirit alone.  All we can do is to help facilitate that process.  Much of the time that means we, as adults, need to get out of the way so that the Spirit of God can do that work.”  So the Holy Spirit must work, but children’s leaders must be used in His work.  God chooses to use us in this grand salvation scheme.  Scottie May and her team tell us, “God grants us the privileges of partnering with the Holy Spirit in helping children come and see Jesus.  We can point children to Jesus by helping them enter the stories of Scripture and follow Jesus there, getting to know him, love, and believe in him.”

We become eternal tour guides, pointing children to Jesus as they walk this road of life.  The leader in the Sunday school, small group, or children’s church must take seriously the need for salvation of the children.  I met a children’s church leader once who admitted that in three years he had never given a salvation invitation in his church time.  The kids had enjoyed teaching, puppets, and games, but had never been given the opportunity to respond to a loving Savior.  Dresselhaus reminds this worker and others like him, “Only through a careful teaching of the Word of God, and as the Spirit is active, will these children recognize their need and feel drawn by the Spirit to salvation.”

Our ethical response must not be to give altar calls for the sake of numbers.  Nor can it be driven by the possible guilt of losing children to a Christ-less eternity.  Instead, we must be driven by love for children and the leading of the Spirit to bless the kids and, with God’s help, win them for Him before their hearts become old and cold.  We must, with enthusiasm and godly wisdom, present the gospel in ways that boys and girls will understand. If we fail in this, we would be ethically negligent. 

The church must do all it can so when that individual time of accountability comes, we can walk the child into God’s presence. “The time of accountability is the moment of grace when one is brought to a decision for or against Christ by the Spirit.  This moment requires the proclamation of the Word, the drawing of the Spirit, and the yielding of the individual to God.  Until this moment is possible, one may leave children in the hands of God.”

So our ethics drive us to proclaim the word to children through godly settings, relationships, and programming. We teach with a sensitivity to the Spirit’s leading and yield ourselves to God.  Then when the child reaches an appropriate level of accountability, the salvation step taken can be both meaningful and eternal.

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