School Apologizes after Baptizing 100 Children without Notifying Parents

100 children were baptized at school without parental consent, and the administration has since issued an apology.

A private Christian school in North Carolina is apologizing after it baptized more than 100 children without alerting parents.

Northwood Temple Academy in Fayetteville, N.C., reported on its Facebook page Thursday that it had “over 100 middle and high school students spontaneously proclaim their beliefs and were baptized” earlier that day.

The majority of Facebook page comments were encouraging, and the school even said they understood if parents felt they needed to miss the event.

Renee McLamb, head of school at Northwood Temple, wrote in a letter to parents that the baptism service had already been organized with a particular number of children slated to be baptized, with parents in attendance. However, McLamb said that a number of more youngsters felt called by God and asked to be baptized. The letter was referenced in The Fayetteville Observer.

The school’s Spiritual Emphasis Week was the setting for the baptisms.

The staff members “did not want to conduct anything behind a parent’s back or in any type of hidden way,” McLamb said in the letter. When baptisms have taken place on campus, parents have always been informed and given the opportunity to participate.

When McLamb wrote, “Truly, the Lord began to move this morning, and we were so enthusiastic about what the Lord was doing,” he was referring to the morning’s events. “Several students had made public professions of faith in Christ during Spiritual Emphasis Week, and their baptisms were planned for this morning. But then the Lord’s Spirit intervened, and the offer to embrace Christ and be baptized was made, and the students quickly responded to Christ’s presence.”

That parents “would aspire to be a part of something so great occurring in their children’s lives,” McLamb continued, “is something I completely understand.”

“I’m sorry that we didn’t think of it at the time,” McLamb added. My hope is that at day’s end, we can all celebrate the work God has done in the lives of our pupils.

The majority of Facebook users who commented on the school’s page were supportive of the baptisms.

‘So delighted to hear that you didn’t stop what the Lord was doing in those tiny ones’ hearts!!’ gushed one woman.