Baptizing (Core Practice #3)

Intro Note: I have already written about our Plan on a Page, which lays out the four core practices that we consider the marks of discipleship according to the New Testament. In that document, we try to capture the "irreducible minimum standards" of our mission. 

Basically, I contend that there are many things you could not do and still be a Christian, or follower of Jesus. For example, you could not "go to church" or participate in a youth group or listen to Christian radio stations or become a missionary in a foreign land or tithe or...okay, you get it...and yet still be an authentic, sincere, passionate follower of Jesus. These examples may all be good things, but they are not the marks of true discipleship that Jesus gives us in the Bible. They are not the "make-or-break", non-negotiables of the Christian faith used to identify people as real believers.

Then, what are the non-negotiables?

The third one is BAPTIZING.

Let me start this one with what we teach children. We are baptized as a way of showing we understand that Jesus died and rose back to life to wash away our sins and give us power to live a new way of following Him. I respect that this is a topic about which parents can have strong feelings.

Baptism is one of the topics that has challenged me as I read through the New Testament objectively. It is possible to defend just about any position concerning baptism, depending on which verse people quote and what context they use it in. I am not going to dive into that debate here. Simply, we define this practice as uniting with Jesus in a new life.

Regardless of what you believe about baptism, there is no way to dismiss the significance of this act in the New Testament. The early church's immediate and automatic response to the gospel was baptism. 

Anyone who encountered Jesus could be baptized and baptize others.

I want to be clear that I am not saying that going into water is what "saves" a person, but I also can't dismiss the obvious importance of baptism as evidenced by the repeated emphasis on it throughout the New Testament. I just have to re-state it again: The early church's immediate and automatic response to the gospel was baptism. It was the Bible's equivalent to what the "sinner's prayer" or "altar call" has become in our part of the world over the past two centuries.

The guiding question for a disciple or church could be, Are we bringing people to salvation in Christ?

My wife baptizing me

(You can read my baptism story here.)

Plan on a Page

With our mission clearly set to Be a Movement Making Disciples That Make Disciples, it is time to shift to the plan to carry out this mission. In keeping with our theme of staying simple, a church's or ministry's plan does not have to be a complicated book full of rules and regulations if we intend to let Jesus build and run His own church. While we strive to communicate our mission in a minute or less, we also strive to capture all the essential aspects of our disciple-making plan on no more than one page.

Why a "Plan on a Page"?
I am coming from an institutional church (IC) background as part of a denomination. We had a pretty thick and comprehensive manual for our church policies, government, doctrines, sacraments, etc. There were rules and regulations from how to run a board meeting to acquiring property to membership requirements and dozens of other issues. There is nothing inherently wrong with all that. Organizations need many of those things in place to function, but one can get away from the fact that so many policies and guidelines have to be put in effect for the purpose of exclusion. It is often important for organizations to define what they are not willing to do or support, so the list gets longer and longer and longer. For them, it is necessary to identify who is in and who is out.

But I want to be sure that we are focused on simple, reproducible, non-negotiable norms for all disciples. Some people refer to them as the "irreducible minimum" standards of what characterize a group or movement. Our "Plan on a Page" is the how of our mission and consists of the core practices that will define us.

I cannot stress enough just how important this document is because of what it implies. There are only four components that we recognize as absolutely mandatory to fulfill the Great Commission that Jesus set out. By even creating this document and making the claim that this is all that is necessary to be part of the genuine church, it quickly becomes our doctrinal statement, too. All four items are relevant to ALL followers and are not reserved for selected individuals, such as pastors or priests. In fact, each of the following actions can be carried out by any disciple, anywhere and at any time.


Summary of what is on our Plan on a Page:

Our plan is to carry out four practices to make disciples that make disciples.

PRAYING - Because it is how Jesus taught us to learn to care about what God cares about

GOING - So that we can be doing good everywhere God sends us

BAPTIZING - Letting people know that Jesus washes away our sins and we want to follow Him wholeheartedly

TEACHING - Obeying and spreading Jesus' command to love

My understanding of what the church is and how it works has gone from a 399-page manual to something much simpler. In fact, it takes 397 less pages for us to convey the both the mission and plan that direct our simple church! I trust that puts my paradigm shift in perspective.

Measuring Success - Baptism

Metric #4: Altar Calls vs. Baptisms

When it came time at the end of each year to submit the pastoral report to the district where I served, one of the blanks I struggled to fill in the most was the number of new church members marked by “professions of faith.” I don't mean to come across as though "altar calls" and "invitations" should be abandoned. There is a time and place for them. Presenting the gospel and being honest about who Jesus is, then praying with someone to accept Him, is nothing to take lightly and it can be a glorious thing. However, it should also be noted that the concept of the "sinner's prayer" has actually only been around for the last couple centuries. Altar calls and invitations were not the modus operandi for "winning souls" in the New Testament. We can make claims about their efficacy in our cultural context, but let's not boast that they are biblical or how things must be done. It's simply not true.

There was, interestingly enough, a very specific method used over and over again. Jesus Himself explicitly taught, modeled, and commanded that it be carried out by His disciples. Of course, I am referring to baptism!

 

Somehow we have lost sight (I know I have) of the significance of baptizing people. In fact, the Great Commission directs us to baptize people as part of the process of making disciples, yet think about how many denominations and churches actually have rules in place that discourage, or worse prohibit, ordinary (non-clergy) believers from performing that very act! Truthfully, baptisms should be carried out by all kinds of Christians!

There is nothing fancy about this metric. If you, as an individual or group, are not participating in baptisms, then there is probably very little to your claim that you are making disciples. I want to note two things as I conclude this point. First, this is definitely a "lagging indicator" for my involvement with the simple church. I have yet to baptize anyone and the people I often meet with haven't either. This is a confession that I need to do better at embracing this shift in thinking and acting as the church. Second, I want to be clear that I am not saying that a person must be baptized to be saved. Getting wet doesn't make one holy. However, we cannot ignore the fact that there is some kind of connection between salvation and the powerful symbol of baptism. To dismiss that reality is to our own detriment.

What would changing the scorecard in this area look like in your context?

What are our children and youth learning about baptism from us?