For those who have been baptized, do you remember that day?
Every church seems to do baptism differently. Some are baptized as infants. Others are children. Others as adults. Some of baptized with oil. Some with a sprinkling of water. Some are immersed in a tub, or pool, or lake - even the ocean. I saw a church make headlines once for baptizing people with a water slide!
I was baptized at the age of 13. I do remember it, very clearly. I remember feeling somewhat disappointed afterwards because I thought I would feel... different. But I didn't. I felt the same. I suppose it's because the change in me had happened before the day of my baptism - a couple of months before, when I had decided to live my life for Jesus, not because of my family, but for me.
I learned this semester some interesting things about baptism in the early church. This applies to the first 200-300 years following Christ. When someone professed an interest in joining the Christian community, there was a process they had to go through. First, they had to study with a local church leader for months, even up to a year, to learn the main creeds and doctrines of the faith and the Scriptures. Once they had a good grasp and understanding, then they were brought before the elders and deacons of the local church. These leaders laid hands on the convert and prayed over them in an exorcism to extract from their life any evil or stronghold that would keep them from being true to the faith. Only at that point were they allowed to be baptized.
The baptism ritual itself is also pretty interesting. They were baptized in a body of water, usually a nearby lake, and they were dunked under the water three times, not just once. First, in the name of the Father, then, in the name of the Son, then in the name of the Holy Spirit. Often, the baptism was done naked, and when they emerged from the water, they were given new clothes. The new clothes symbolized their admittance as a full-fledged member into the community. Being a member of the community meant they were allowed to take the Eucharist (communion) with the rest.
It was believed for quite a long time that once you had been through this process, you would no longer commit any big sins. Maybe some little day-to-day stuff but nothing major. Not any breaking of the 10 Commandments, for sure. If one did, they were kicked out of the community, and there was no way for them to be brought back in.
Eventually, the church ran into problems with this rule of practice. For example, during a time of persecution, many of the Christian community caved and agreed to either renounce their faith or to swear allegiance to the emperor in order to avoid being tortured or killed. After the time of prosecution ended, the church had to decide what to do with those people. Were they out of the Christian community forever? Or was there a way for them to enter back in? The church figured out a system of making amends and reconciling with the Christian community.
A few centuries later, Augustine came on the scene. Saint Augustine was a highly influential teacher of his time, and his teachings still influence our main doctrines today. Augustine theorized that within the Christian community there would always be people who were truly saved and true followers of Jesus, and people who were not. He likened this to Jesus' parable of the wheat and the weeds in Matthew 13. He interpreted the parable as saying the field is the church. There is both wheat - Christians who are devoted to growing in Jesus - and weeds - non-Christians who are there for the community or social piece but don't follow Jesus - in the church. In the end of days, Jesus will harvest the field and sort out the wheat from the weeds. That, however, is not our job.
In other words, Augustine says, we don't need to push non-practicing Christians or nominal Christians or even non-Christians out of the church community. Augustine says, let them stay. Because you never know. We may judge someone a weed who is actually wheat. Or judge someone wheat who is actually a weed. We are terribly bad at judging these things. And, after all, people can change.
It's an interesting philosophy to consider.
As my semester is coming to a close, I've been highly reflective. I learned so much from these early church leaders and the decisions they made. One of the biggest lessons is this: there is a seriousness to the faith in those first few centuries that largely we have forsaken today. Many churches, especially in the U.S., have watered down the gospel to a superstitious prayer and nice feelings. We have lost sight of the solemnness and commitment that was required of early believers. I think this has done incredible damage to our Christian communities who often look more worldly, more American, than Christian.
Maybe this is the moment to remember Jesus' final words to us before returning to Heaven. We often call this the "Great Commission". Matthew records His words as, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."
So... our job is to go and make converts? Find as many people as possible to repeat the salvation prayer we made up (yes, we made up - it's not in the Bible)? Or maybe, like Rev. Nathan Price*, go about baptizing people as they run around in the rain because we can't get them to commit.
No. We are called to make disciples.
What is a disciple? We know of the disciples, the initial 12. But in our Western mindset we don't know what disciples are. Discipleship was part of Jewish culture. A Rabbi, a teacher or wise man, would take on disciples to learn his teaching. These disciples would study under him. They would travel with him and often even live with him so as to learn not only the things he taught, but also his ways, the way he lived and behaved. They soaked it in with the goal of being like him. Then, once they had learned all he had to teach, they would go forth and take on their own disciples.
This is the model we are called to. To make disciples who can make disciples.
Not to make converts. Not to fill our pews or our offering trays. But to make disciples who know Jesus, His teaching yes but also His ways. Disciples who can go forward and teach others.
Imagine if churches took this call more seriously. If we actually invested in discipleship. There are some churches who still institute a type of class or training program prior to baptism or church membership. There are some churches who offer Bible studies or ministry training programs. But there aren't nearly enough.
A Pew Research Study found that a third of all Christians never read their Bibles, and another ten percent only read it a few times a year (holidays, maybe?). Another study found that close to 45% of self-proclaiming Christians never or only seldom attend church. How are people supposed to learn to be a disciple of Jesus, to know what He taught and how He wants us to live, if they are never in church and not in their Word?
I believe if churches were really invested in helping people grow, that would be attractive. I read another article some time back that said most young people leave church because they feel it's not relevant to today's life and issues. Discipleship is about teaching the Word, yes, but also showing people how to apply that Word and put it in action. That makes it very relevant. Offering Bible-centered, theologically-grounded discipleship training and Christian education would make church more relevant and more of a changemaker in this world. A positive changemaker.
Perhaps it's time we took a hint from the early church. We can't keep playing at this. Church is not a social club. We have work to do - and time is running out to get it done.
* From Barbara Kingsolver's "The Poisonwood Bible". A great read.
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