Baptising Southland

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Baptising Southland

• Training day for elders and LMT members to be
  authorised to conduct baptism within the
  Presbytery of Southland
• 18 March 2006

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Agenda (not necessarily in order)

• Biblical examples and biblical theology
• What it means and who decides
• Baptism in water and the Holy Spirit
• Why infant baptism remains part of our churchs
  faith and practice
• Why we also accept leaders and congregations who
  do not practice it
• Infant baptism and infant dedication

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Agenda (any other items?)

• Confirmation
• Reaffirmation of baptismal vows by immersion
• Believers baptism by sprinkling, pouring or
  immersion children, teenagers and adults.
• The role of the congregation, god-parents and
  whanau
• The responsibility of the Session
• Record keeping
• Practical! waders, wet suits, hot tubs and crying
  babies.

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Overview

• Baptism and Mission

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Approaches to Baptism

• Owning our own stories
• Owning the stories of others
• Respecting the standards and regulations of our
  Church
• Placing our understanding in the context of
• Jesus commission to his followers
• Teaching which takes the major traditions
  seriously
• Making Baptism and preparation a deliberate part
  of mission, planning and scheduling.

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Debates

• The Waters that Divide, Bridges and Pyper.
• Infant Baptism has a focus on the family and
  community claiming the promises of God for
  someone born into the community.
• Believers Baptism has a focus on repentance of
  sin and confession of faith
• Whatever we say about baptism, these are both
  valid activities before God.

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Discussion is affected by culture

• Climate and circumstance make universal baptism
  by immersion practically impossible for all
  people everywhere.
• Immersion may be a good choice where it is
  feasible and that is what the person and the
  community are happy with.
• A modernist culture tended to assume that words
  had to mean exactly the same thing in all times
  and places.

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Baptism in a postmodern world

• The meaning of baptism is what you make it.
• BUT the you is not just the person being
  baptized, it is also the Christian community,
  both immediate and extended, present in time,
  across cultures and across history.
• In thinking about what we are saying to God and
  God is saying to us through whatever practices of
  baptism we follow, we need to be informed by this
  wider community, and by the community before us.
• God respects our sincerity God may also expect
  us to respect the sincerity of others.

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Share

• What is the story of your Baptism and
  Confirmation?
• How did you confess your faith in Jesus Christ
  and join the Church?
• What is the place of baptism in the mission of
  your congregation?

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The Church has devalued baptism and confirmation

• We know that we are not saved by our church
  membership.
• We tell stories that being a church member no
  more makes us a Christian than living in a garage
  makes us a car or going to McDonalds makes us a
  hamburger.
• We no longer believe that baptism is essential to
  get to heaven.

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The Church has undervalued

• the importance of baptism and confirmation for
• What they allow God to say to us
• What they allow us to say to God
• What they allow us to say to others
• How they grow Christians by providing a focus of
  decision for Christ
• How they grow the Church in faith and maturity
  not just numbers.

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Jesus said

• All authority on heaven and earth has been given
  to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all
  nations, baptizing them in the name of the
  Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
  teaching them to observe all that I have
  commanded you and lo, I am with you always, to
  the close of the age. Matthew 28 18 20. RSV.

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What will you do about

• Baptizing and
• Teaching
• in your congregation and community?

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A serious suggestion

• Make baptism and confirmation key items in your
  mission.
• Indicate publicly that you will be encouraging
  people to seek baptism and confirmation and how
  they can respond.
• Ask people to pray.
• Designate suitable Sundays for baptism and
  confirmation every year.
• Schedule membership classes (by whatever name)
  into the annual calendar of events.
• Make these one of the best things you do.

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People need

• A way of saying they have repented of sin and
  have turned to Jesus.
• A way of joining the Christian community as
  responsible members.
• A way of bringing their children to God as part
  of the Christian community
• Baptism is a key part of meeting all these needs.
• Baptism is also something we are instructed to do.

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Teaching about Baptism

• A Common Theology
• An openness about difference
• A respect for difference

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A common theology of baptism

• It is about what God has done for us in Jesus.
• It is about following Jesus example and command.
• It is about belonging to Jesus and his church.
• It is about bearing witness to Jesus as Lord and
  Savour
• It is about being open to the work of the Holy
  Spirit
• It is about being part of the Kingdom of God and
  working for Gods glory.
• It is about the person being baptised, and it is
  about the community of faith they are part of as
  part of the church.

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Act positively

• Teach positively about Baptism from the
  standpoint of the Church universal.
• Respect the teaching of the Church you are part
  of as one of its leaders
• Rebaptism may not show a lot of respect for the
  Church, but it can show a great deal of faith and
  a desire to serve Christ. That also matters.
• Put the font where it looks as if you intend to
  use it.
• Explain when and how you will offer baptism
  including by immersion.

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Baptism

• What Christians have (almost) always done
• Has changed in emphasis
• Who is baptised new believers, old believers,
  children of believers
• How it is done sprinkling, pouring, immersion
• How it is understood whether it is more about
  what God has done for us or what we are saying to
  God as a confession and to others as a witness.

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Has stayed the same

• Baptism is
• About what God has done for us
• About leaving sin and following Jesus
• About being part of the Christian community
• In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy
  Spirit

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Reformed understanding of Baptism

• Children of believers are part of the covenant
• Infant Baptism is a means of grace, but it is not
  magic
• Infant Baptism is supported by the theology and
  teaching of the New Testament and is consistent
  with what we know of practice in New Testament
  churches.

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New Zealand Presbyterians

• Our people include those from traditions which do
  not practice infant baptism, including Baptist,
  Brethren, and Pentecostal.
• Include congregations where the common practice
  is infant dedication and baptism, preferably by
  immersion, takes place after personal confession
  of faith.
• Include ministers who for reasons of conscience
  do not practice infant baptism.
• Remain committed to offering baptism to the
  children of believers.
• Have an authorised service for reaffirmation of
  baptism by immersion.

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Current issues

• Baptism seems neglected it needs to be higher
  in our expectations of things that happen in our
  church.
• Baptism is carried out by recognised leaders
  because baptism is considered important. That is
  about the status of baptism, not about the status
  of the leaders.
• Just because baptism is debated does not mean
  that it should not be talked about, and it still
  needs to happen.
• We need to celebrate and renew our own baptism.
• We need teach about baptism - including a
  theology that covers our diverse practices.

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Distinctions

• What is legal and what is valid. Unauthorised
  baptisms may defy the authority of recognised
  leadership, but they are still valid. These are
  separate issues.
• What we do in infant baptism and what we do in
  believers baptism have much in common, but the
  differences also matter. Each is saying something
  important.

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What things mean

• What things mean in themselves and what they
  remind us of are not necessarily the same.
• The meaning of baptism depends on what it reminds
  people of as well as the meaning it is given by
  New Testament parallels and teaching. Both are
  important.
• It is helpful to be aware of the communities
  involved in giving meaning to what we do

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What NT examples mean and what they may require
are not the same

• Jesus calling children to him does not require
  children to be baptised, but it is meaningful if
  children are being baptised.
• Stories of people being baptised as adults does
  not require us only to baptise adults, but they
  are meaningful when adults are baptised.
• Stories of people being baptised immediately tell
  us what may happen, but do not necessarily tell
  us how we should normally do things when there is
  a community of believers.

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Issues debated in the past

• Private baptisms at home
• Unbelieving parent
• Belief that the unbaptised will go to hell
• Belief that baptised children are saved or better
  behaved.
• Emergency baptism

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Baptism in the Holy Spirit

• God is often more untidy than we would like.
• Baptism in the Holy Spirit can be a description
  for a deep experience of God which may come at
  baptism, at some other time, or not at all.
• It is also a description for a theological
  reality which may be true whether or not there is
  an experience of God that it is connected to.
• What we think the Bible means is shaped by the
  meanings given to biblical terms by groups of
  Christians as they try to make sense of their
  spiritual experiences.

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What we could aim to do

• Equip ourselves spiritually and practically to
  lead baptism in a meaningful way
• Commit ourselves to study and teaching about
  baptism as a regular part of our church life.
• Help people understand where others are coming
  from, including those who see things differently.
• Model conviction, faith, humility, and action.

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Leading Baptism

• The promise is to you and to your children

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A Malaysian Experience

• In the one congregation while I was interim
  moderator, the elders prepared people for
  baptism and we
• Dedicated infants of Christian parents
• Baptised infants of Christian parents
• Baptised elderly converts by sprinkling / pouring
• Baptised young people and adults by immersion in
  the sea
• Requests for a change of name

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Preparation of families for the baptism of their
infant children

• Session should be involved in the decision and in
  the pastoral care before and after.
• Pastoral and evangelistic opportunity almost
  always a greater concern than the depth of faith
  of the parents. In practice difficult to refuse.
• In the past was sometimes driven by grandparents
  and by social custom more than faith. Less common
  today.
• Still find Christian mother and not yet Christian
  father.
• Work with the vows you use in your church.

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Conducting baptism

• Have a practice!
• Work out what you are going to say.
• Think about where people will stand.
• Involve the congregation.
• Encourage those involved to share their faith.
• Use warm water.
• Make sure the font is somewhere to be seen.

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Preparing for Believers Baptism

• Decision by the Session
• Involvement of elders
• Allow people choice in what is meaningful for
  them
• Sprinkling / pouring
• Immersion
• Reaffirmation of infant baptism by immersion
• Work with the vows

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Preparation Groups (this may be the most
important ministry you develop)

• Design your own
• Home groups
• Something advertised for the purpose
• Resources
• Alpha
• Bible study about conversion and baptisms
• Catechism
• Apostles Creed
• Contemporary statements of faith

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Key elements in the service

• Welcome people, including family and visitors.
• Explain what is going on and what is going to
  happen.
• Invite people forward
• Pray
• Confession of faith person being baptised or
  their parents, whanau
• Testimony
• Take the child, or have the candidate kneel in
  the pool before immersion.
• Baptism ______, I baptise you in the name of the
  Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The
  blessing of God Almighty, Father Son and Holy
  Spirit descend upon you and remain in your heart
  forever.
• Prayer (may involve others)
• Affirmation of support from congregation (may
  include creed, sung blessing, and promise to
  encourage).
• Declaration of membership in the universal church
  of Jesus Christ.