Prepared to Believe: The Evangelism of Preschoolers and Infant Baptism in African Anglican Churches

Abstract

This article discusses the cognitive status of preschool children based on the insights of the child psychologist Jean Piaget. Building on this, a strategy is offered for the evangelism of preschoolers and the expected outcome of this evangelism is the formation of their worldview into a Christian one. This prepares them to believe the gospel when they reach a developmental stage in which faith and unbelief become part of their mental posture. Given their commitment to infant baptism, African Anglican churches must prioritise theological studies focused on children in order to carry out such evangelism.