Tue 4 Oct 2005
Church, Baptism, Missions, and My Covenants
Posted by Mr. Email under The "Emerging Church"[5] Comments
“rawbbie” writes:
- I have recently moved to Las Cruces, that’s not included in my profile. I’m actually from Farmington. I left a great church when I moved down here, one that I chose with much prayer and agony. Now I’m chosing a new church with much prayer and not yet any agony but it will soon come. I guess I should start at how I got to choosing my last church and then you’ll see how hard my new decision will be.
Two summers ago I moved back to my home town after spending two years in Kansas going to school and playing baseball. I defenitely needed a new church because I was stating a new chapter of my life. I was engaged to be married by the end of the summer and the church i went to before church had no place for newly wed college students to serve or be served, disciple and be descipled. We were involved in a bible study on having a world centered view of God. It was amazing.
We were encouraged to make covenants before starting the study as a sort of accountability with ourselves and the others in the group. My covenants were all based on finding a new church. I think that was the best part. My priorities for the church were stated above but also included outreach to the community and the world. We found a church that fit.
Animas Valley Community Church that Courtney and I ended up getting married in. I helped out with youth group and Courtney helped with the worship team. We did several outreaches into the community and went to the Thai-Burma border to Minister to Karen refugees this summer. This church is amazing, they all are great people who were awesome friends and family.
We’re seeking the same here. I feel I still have to live up to the same covenants here in this pursuit of God’s place for me. We are at a deciding point. Mesilla Park Community Church is a great growing church. I don’t know how it’s growing but I think transfer growth and a deeper outreach to the college are the biggest contributors. They are afilliated with SBC so they probably send more missionaries than any of the other churches and they encourage community involvement as equal to church involvement (they only have sunday day services so people can have more time in the community). There is only one hang-up that I have: Baptism.
I was Baptized into a Methodist church and the particular church that I went to allowed both immersion and practiced “sprinkling” (I have told people how I was baptized and they say “oh so you were sprinkled.” And I say “no, I was baptized and everbody at my church will tell you I was.”), so I didn’t see the big deal with either as long as all my friends, relatives and church family knew that I was baptized, that is that I was now burried with Christ and I shall rise with Christ.
The SBC requires baptism by imersion. I’ll have to be re-baptized. I think I’m going to do it. I want to relate to this church, I want to be a part of it. I don’t want to just float around in society as a lost child of God, I want to be in a family and part of His body.
This is a timely topic for our church — one which the elders are currently debating. Should church membership and baptism be linked (where you can’t have one without the other)? Is baptism more of a symbolic gesture in the life of a believer nowadays? What in the world does it mean to be a member of a church, anyway?
When is a stumbling block a “speed bump” designed to slow you down and give you the time to really think through where you’re going, and when is it just plain ol’ road debris — stuff that should be removed before it hurts somebody?
October 29th, 2005 at 12:57 am
Yeah, it took me forever to get over here, but I made it. Thank you, so much for checkin’ out my blog. And yes, I am going to get baptized at mpcc someday (hopefully soon). To be honest, baptism was a block at first. But I feel that mpcc is the best place in L.C. for me to be a part of a missionary sending(in the world, and community), disciple focused community of faith that serves one another. I can look past stuff to love people better. How good would a generous orthodoxy be if I didn’t join this body because it has a less than generous orthodxy. We would both be legalists.
May 11th, 2006 at 12:22 pm
Baptism is a picture of joining with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. You don’t bury someone by throwing a handful of dirt on them. It was important enough that Jesus did it and is the first act of obedience of a believer. When you call Him, “Lord,” you must do what He says. It is far beyond a “gesture.”
The question of whether any individual church will accept the baptism by immersion by another church is, of course, up to that church.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:02 pm
It’s been a while since I’ve read this post — but I think the intent was to show that we are united with Christ at the moment of salvation, and as such members of His family from that point on. Baptism follows out of obedience to His example and our love and desire to follow Him as He leads.
It is a discipleship issue, nothing more. If a believer understands what baptism is about, there will be no questioning of their desire to become baptized. However, when we require it as a pre-requisite for acceptance into a church family, that’s where we need to be careful. We as leaders sometimes want to make baptism THE issue when it comes to accepting new members into our churches, when perhaps there are more pressing spiritual maturity matters that need to be dealt with first.
I’d rather see somebody accepted into a church body because they are a mature believer, full of love for our Lord and for each other — and full of grace. If this is true of them, then baptism won’t be an issue.
May 12th, 2006 at 8:03 am
Fred,
I agree with everything in your first paragraph. And, I certainly don’t believe that baptism is THE issue. If someone is living an openly sinful lifestyle that they are unwilling to give up, then they are not making a true commitment to Christ and therefore the church would not want to sanction that by accepting them into membership.
The church is the place God designed for people grow into mature believer’s living a life of love and obedience to Christ. The requirements for church membership have become few and far between. It is more difficult to get a library card than to join most churches. Biblical baptism is certainly not too much to expect.
May 12th, 2006 at 1:01 pm
Baptism certainly is not too much to expect, but neither should we expect a new believer ourto understand the significance of baptism if they have never been an environment where they can experience the growth you speak of. Most folks come to new churches from other churches, but I wouldn’t say they often come from an environment that encouraged growth. For them, baptism is indeed a stumbling block — a legalistic requirement that they (most often) choose to do without. I don’t think any of the previous posters are saying that baptism is unncessary or even something to be diminished; just that the full meaning and significance of baptism needs to be taught and learned before it can be a true “outward expression of an inward faith.” It has therefore been suggested that one way to do that is to not shun people from church membership just because they are not ready to accept the mode of baptism that is required — but to bring them to that point on their own through the fellowship of a nurturing body of believers. AND to structure the church leadership so that discipleship is an intentional, purposeful, and unavoidable part of being a “member.”