What’s the Big Deal About Baptisms?
by Robert Krumrey
We just celebrated one of the most important milestones of our church year - Spring baptisms! If you missed them you can see the FB livestream HERE and pictures HERE. We at MH have had the privilege of seeing people pass through the waters of baptism at the end of every semester of our 21 year history. But why are we making such a big deal out of a bunch of people getting wet?
MANDATE
One reason is that we are commanded to do this by Jesus. Jesus makes this very explicit in his great commission to the original disciples and eventually handed over to us:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ”
Sometimes we find it hard to know how to obey Jesus. Should I take a certain job which will move me away from my church? Do I save a sum of money for my kid’s college or give it to missionaries? We read our Bibles and pray and do our best to honor Christ in these somewhat unclear areas of life, but some things are not like that. Some things are very explicit and baptism is one of these kinds of commands. When people who are attending our church profess new found faith in Jesus and his work on the cross, we should baptize them. Part of what was happening at Puffer’s Pond last Sunday was our church obeying Jesus.
MEANING
This naturally leads to the question of, “Why would Jesus command such a thing?” When we look at New Testament teaching on baptism, we see at least three facets of meaning. The first is a declaration of the gospel itself. The person being baptized is proclaiming the core of the Christian faith with their body by being buried in the water and then raised out again in a much different state - all wet! This experience tells the story of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. It also tells the story of Christian conversion itself. Genuine Christians who have believed in Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, are united to Jesus through that belief and the result is a dying to their old lives and a rising to a new life. Paul points to this reality and how baptism proclaims it in the book of Romans:
“We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”
In addition, there is also a communal meaning contained within baptism. It is an initiation rite for those who are entering the church. I often say that baptism expresses that the new Christian has both joined Jesus AND Jesus’ church. Paul appeals to this idea in the book of Ephesians chapter 4 verse 5 when he reminds the Ephesian church members that they have “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” Baptism is not only an individual experience, but also has communal meaning.
Baptismal candidates from 4 of our 5 colleges and their testimony readers
MISSION
Baptisms are also one indicator that our church is on mission. We say that our mission is “to make disciples who make disciples”. If we are never baptizing anyone, then we are not making disciples who make disciples. Praise God we are baptizing people even in a pandemic! Since the pandemic started back in 2020, we have baptized 14 people. This is actually a few more than usual. This is cause for much celebration as we see the mission of the church being carried out. We also say that we want to make disciples “on campuses, in communities, and among the unreached people of the world”. Sunday’s baptisms included students from Umass, Amherst College, Smith College, and Mt. Holyoke College. It is really encouraging to see that our campus ministry reach is making an impact in at least four of our five local colleges. It is also a reminder of the fruitful ministry of our staff who spend intentional time making disciples on these campuses. While this is an encouragement in the area of campus ministry, it’s also a reminder that we didn’t see new converts from the community pass through these waters. Let this reality be cause for greater prayer and effort on our part to bring a gospel witness to our neighborhoods and work places.
ME
Baptisms are also a reminder to professing Christians who haven’t been baptized of the importance of following Jesus’ command to participate in this important rite. Genuine Christians have received Jesus as their Savior and their King. If he is their King and the King says get baptized, then this is a no brainer. If you are a Christian, and haven’t been baptized, please see our website for more details about how you can get baptized at MERCYhouse. If you are a baptized believer, allow these baptisms to excite you about one day helping to baptize some new Christians yourself. Disciples make disciples. Disciples also baptize disciples. Those that were helping with the baptizing last Sunday weren’t in the water because Pastor Rob can’t lift people out of the water by himself. They were in the water because they had been intimately involved in the spiritual journeys of those being baptized. As your pastor, I pray for a day when there will be many more church members in those chili waters helping to baptize students and community members because they have been used by God to make disciples of others.