In evangelical churches, pastors and leaders are commissioned with the task of putting in place a system of recruiting, teaching, and administering baptism. What do you teach? How do you teach? What’s the system?
I’d like to share with you a few examples of what has worked for me over the years depending on the context. I have a bunch of downloads for you to work through as well. Here are four keys.
1. Regularity
While I have been a part of churches that held spontaneous baptism services, had rooms set aside with a 24/7 baptismal tank available whenever a person decided to be baptized, I have found that the most effective churches are those that schedule baptism on a regular basis. Whether that is four times a year, bi-monthly, monthly, bi-weekly, or whatever time it might be. Regularity
- establishes a culture of baptism in a church
- forces a culture of intentional discipleship for new believers
- keeps the focus on evangelism
- provides structured planning and regular ministry responsibility
- helps you to plan “baptism” into your service and cut back on unnecessary “extra” stuff.
- build “invites” for people to invite their friends / family to join them
- use baptism service as an evangelism service as well.
Even if you are not at this level yet, perhaps it means that you start with four baptism services that take place on a Sunday Morning. Plan evangelistic services two months before baptism service to allow you the time to “teach baptism” ahead of time as well.
2. Teaching
It’s important that you provide clear teaching on baptism to candidates who may not understand what it is. This is especially true of a person who may have recently decided to follow Jesus. There are a variety of ways this can be done depending on your context
- Sunday class (very good as people are at church sundays)
- Give a DVD/CD with questions/answers to be returned
- Online with questions/answers to be answered
Helping those who have come to the baptism contextualize the importance of baptism is also an important aspect of baptism. It’s a chance for evangelism, bringing clarity to new christians, and dispelling misconceptions.
3. The Event
Making the experience memorable for your candidates and guests is also important. Some churches that hold baptism services at night tend to extend the length of baptism services to enable every candidate to share the totality of their story. Pre-empting this on sunday mornings is important. You can pre-film ‘testimonies’ or simply go the “cardboard testimony” route and get the candidate to complete the sentence “Now that christ is in my life….”he’s replaced anger with peace” with or without a picture for the big screen.
Tshirts are a great way of building momentum for ongoing baptism services. Colors that show up well on video / pictures but not transparent are also important to consider.
Celebrate the occasion by having a “cake” reception afterwards. It will give your leadership a chance to connect with newcomers and connect and congratulate those who have been baptized. It will enable your assimilation / discipleship director to help bridge the gap to the next phase of discipleship for them.
4. Celebration
Carrying the momentum is one of the oft neglected areas of baptism. Like Christmas and Easter, baptism is a chance to share the good news of Jesus with newcomers. Yet they are more than that. They can build momentum for other parts of your church culture.
Here are a few simple ideas on how to capitalize on baptism for future growth.
- hire a photographer to take quality photos for people – post on Facebook page and “tag” image…
- be used as catalysts in your volunteer recruitment system
- be used to launch recruitment for upcoming outreaches (christmas, easter, summer, etc)
- promote upcoming social fundraiser
- build community goodwill