Posted on 07/25/2007 7:20:45 PM PDT by Ottofire
Here’s a list of some simple things we do that almost any church can do:
1. Mention the value, purpose and benefits of baptism regularly in sermons.
2. Videotape some of your baptisms. Prepare a music video of baptisms to show in your worship service so people who’ve never seen a baptism can witness one.
3. Have clothes ready for people who decide spontaneously to be baptized after a service.
4. Make it a party atmosphere. It’s a celebration, not a funeral. Applaud baptisms!
5. Invite small group members to witness the baptism and identify them before each baptism.
6. Prepare a beautiful leatherette-bound baptism folder to hold their certificate.
7. Have a required membership class that explains the meaning or baptism in detail.
8. Always baptize on special days when relatives may be in town – Christmas, Mother’s Day, New Year’s Eve, etc.
9. Always baptize on special days of the church. (We baptized over 400 on the day we opened our Worship Center.)
10. Allow entire families (after confirming that all are believers) to enter the pool together.
11. Hug each person after they have been baptized!
12. Interview all candidates at the water’s edge to hear their story of how Jesus changed them.
13. Build a Baptism Team of volunteers who assist with all baptisms. Have matching shirts to identify the Baptism Team and the pastors leading the service.
14. Have a professional photographer there to capture the moment and include a picture of their baptism along with their certificate of baptism.
15. Print a “Why Be Baptized?” brochure. Use scriptures and lots of testimonies.
16. Put the brochure information, baptism pictures, and even videos of baptisms on your website, so people can forward it to others.
17. Have pre-printed invitations for the baptism candidates to use in inviting lost friends and relatives to a service and to witness their baptism.
18. Make the baptism pool and surrounding area beautiful and inviting and non-threatening. (Many baptisms are perched up so high inside the church that it feels distant and disconnected. Our baptism pool is outside in our patio area so people can gather up close around it for a more intimate feeling.)
19. After the baptism service encourage people to go out afterwards for coffee or dessert to celebrate and find out what the experience meant to the person baptized and to the family and friends who watched it.
20. Publicize the baptisms with posters around your church. Elicit “one line” testimonies from people who have been baptized, take an 8×10 photo of that person, and mount their photo and quote on a 2’x3’ foam board sign. Put this on a tri-pod in a visible area after the service where people can sign-up to be baptized.
21. Have all small groups get people in their group to sign up in the group for the next baptism.
22. Identify and celebrate other special moments at the water’s edge (birthdays, anniversaries, spiritual birthdays, etc.)
23. Train your Baptism Team volunteers to greet and make everyone comfortable.
24. Provide a sound system that will allow spectators gathered to hear the testimonies.
25. Always have the baptism pool warm and chlorinated before services.
26. Have a corporate prayer of celebration at the end of each service to thank God for those baptized.
27. Sing a great chorus or hymn about the power of God to change someone’s life.
28. During warmer weather offer baptisms at the beach or lake or slow-flow river.
29. Develop a “Baptism Party in a Box” kit that includes ideas for a family party following baptism.
30. Have outdoor heaters if you baptize outdoors in the winter.
31. Set up good lighting if you baptize outside after evening services.
32. Have hand towels available as a gift with the church’s logo as a memory keeper.
33. Ask each small group in your church to take a week where each person shares their baptism experience and what it did for their Christian life.
34. Use banners and signs the week prior to baptisms to draw interest, especially beach or lake baptisms.
35. Build a baptism service into an extended spiritual growth campaign (like Saddleback’s Millennium Member Campaign). Build on momentum.
36. Constantly emphasize baptism as the next step after committing your life to Christ. Have sign-ups everywhere.
37. Give a follow-up booklet, a button, and a free gift for those who obey Christ’s command to be baptized.
38. Have a special Christian’s baptism class as a requirement for baptizing children. Insist that at least one parent attend with their child.
39. When baptizing grade school children, have the baptizing pastor hold their hands lifted high after they come out of the water, like you would with a winner in game.
40. Address Frequently Asked Questions in a brochure they can walk away with, and deal personally with every fear or hang-up about baptism.
Do these 40 things and the number of people wanting to publicly demonstrate their faith through baptism will rise dramatically. Rick _________________ Pastor Rick Warren, Saddleback Church
Amen. Well put.
Protestants utilize this one of the seven of Christ-instituted sacraments. Mr. Warren: please treat this sacrament with the dignity it deserves.
44) Watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” and modify the rec hall floor accordingly..
MY brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.
Jam 2:2 For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes,
Jam 2:3 and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,”
Jam 2:4 have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
Jam 2:5 Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?
Jam 2:6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts?
Jam 2:7 Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?
Jam 2:8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,”[fn1] you do well;
Jam 2:9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son & Holy Ghost....weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, then your church could install water sprinklers in the ceiling and when the room is full, light a match.
Covenant baptism is about God’s promises to us, which is why Christian parents can (and should) have their babies baptized—as again, it’s about God’s promises to his people “to you and your children” to quote Peter in Acts 2.
Dispensational/believers’ baptism tends to be all about the individual’s promise to God...the focus is on the person, and his/her promises—it really does tend to be human focused—closely listen next time you’re at a believer’s (adult) baptism.
All Christians should be baptised, and if they wait until they make a decision for Christ, all well and good. However, baptism really should focus on what God has promised us, not what I promise to Him.
Good humor though sad at the same time because of the implicit truth inherent.
Amen...
I can’t believe you missed the entire point of his posting this inanity by Rick Warren.
I think they ought to add #41
“have baptisms done by buxom women in bikinis” that’s sure to increase the numbers! After all that’s what it’s all about!
You know, they could even put those little feathery angel wings on and pose for a picture with the one baptized, for a keepsake!
Nothing about ‘make sure these people really are saved and know what they’re committing to’ but then again, if that EVER happens at Saddleback, it happens in spite of Saddleback/Rick Warren’s teaching, not because of it.
Complete with apples?
Seriously, this reminds me of Sun Myung Moon marrying 4000 couples at a time.
What I don’t understand is why they count anything? Remember how displeased God was when David wanted to count the people of Israel. Just focus on the right teaching of the Word and leave the numbers up to God.
NOne of that death stuff now, it's supposed to be a fun occasion! Balloons anyone?
groooannnn. You wonder when people will wake up to this clown.
I didn't miss the point at all. I was making a point.
TO YOU.
I Cor:4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Why can't you assume the best about people? What's your problem?
Do you ever pray for people that you disagree with, or is it easier to just accuse them of being heretics?
Rick Warren isn't the problem here.
Most Baptists would not make this claim. Baptism is a very serious ordinance that should be only entered into after a great deal of reflection. Our pastor, to his credit, requires anyone who wants to be baptized to attend classes so they understand what they are professing.
If Rick Warren wants a party, there are plenty of other opportunities then church ordinances. One should remember that the Corinthians turned the Lord's Supper into a party and God was none too happy.
No, they turned it into a gluttonous orgy of judgment against their fellow man.
God isn't against us enjoying His presence and liking it! I can't believe you guys.
Baptism isn’t about “enjoying His presence”. Baptism is an ordinance illustrating to the world that one recognizes they are a sinner, have repented and asked God to enter their life. They now wish to be associated with the promises of Christ, whatever that entails including persecution. What specifically would someone want to celebrate?
While I do not believe one can lose the gift of salvation that God has bestowed upon us, it is presumptuous and prideful to celebrate one's calling. If we recognized our calling we wouldn't be celebrating that we've crossed over to the Perly Gates. Instead our baptism would serve in showing how far short we fall and how many miles we need to walk to those gates.
The communion of the Holy Spirit? nah.
If we recognized our calling we wouldn't be celebrating that we've crossed over to the Perly Gates. Instead our baptism would serve in showing how far short we fall and how many miles we need to walk to those gates.
If we recognized the kindness, beauty and glory of Jesus, we would be smiling at the thought of His love for us, despite our flaws, and the prospect of walking with Him for the rest of eternity!
Lighten up. Life is supposed to be fun, we're free from sin now, we have all things that pertain to life and godliness, we've entered into the Kingdom. We have the opportunity to change the sinners around us into saints! Why should we be so dour? Not me.
Seriously, this reminds me of Sun Myung Moon marrying 4000 couples at a time.
S.M.M. also did mass baptisms with a firehose, if I recall correctly.
Wonder how the old heretic's doing. Getting up there, by this time.
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