Prism & Baptism
This year is our first as a church and will feature our first baptisms. Our baptism weekend is Sunday, November 6. However, any given weekend we might feature the dedication of an infant child to the Lord. And sometimes these ceremonies will include the sprinkling of water onto the infant’s head. Sometimes not. Let me explain…
The importance of Christian baptism is clear for all to see in the New Testament (Matt. 28:19; Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38, etc.). Every branch of the Christian church has agreed that baptism is a divine ordinance whose observance is part of what constitutes a church. As a mission of the Acts 29 Network, Prism Church is one with all the rest in this belief. However, historically there have been widespread differences of opinion among those equally committed to accepting the Bible as our God-given, inspired, and infallible rule of faith and practice. This is true within Protestantism. Evangelical Protestants reject the view of baptismal regeneration (conversion by baptism), but they differ among themselves as to the proper mode and subjects of baptism.
Historically among Protestants, the Reformed churches (along with the Lutheran, Episcopal, Congregational, and Methodist churches) have accepted that pouring and sprinkling are valid modes of baptism, along with total immersion. They have also believed that baptism should be administered to believers and to their children because, they contend, that children of the New Testament church would have been understood to be included in God’s covenant with His people [much as children of the Covenant in the Old Testament received the covenant sign that would only be given to adults after they converted to Judaism]. The proper sign and seal of the gospel covenant is baptism, which should therefore be administered to covenant children.
On the other side of this discussion exist Baptists and other non-denominational churches, who have argued that baptism must follow a personal profession of faith. According to this perspective, baptism cannot legitimately be administered to children who have made no such personal profession. The New Testament nowhere commands or mentions the baptism of children. The only baptism it knows is believer’s baptism. On the mode of baptism, Baptists insist that only immersion is acceptable because, they say, the verb “baptizo” means “to dip,” and the symbolism of Romans 6 (death, burial, and resurrection) demands immersion. Interestingly, the early Anabaptists of the Reformation period baptized believers by pouring.
FOUR CENTURIES OF CONTROVERSY
It is easy to see what controversy the subject of baptism has engendered. Each point made by one side is vigorously contested by the other, and vice versa. After four hundred years of debate, the argument has not ceased.
Prism Church recognizes that good men and women have differed and continue to differ on this emotive subject. Yet, should God’s people separate from one another over baptism? Can they not hold their view strongly while allowing conscientious brothers and sisters to hold a differing view within the same congregation? We believe they can and should. We do not undervalue baptism, but we do not want needless division either. We would not wish to be so exclusively paedobaptist that we could find no place for great Reformed theologians and teachers such as Dr. John Piper, Dr. Alistair Begg or historically the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon or Dr. Roger Nicole because they strongly adhered to believer’s baptism.
In the same way, we leave room for the theological tradition that recognizes the application of the New Covenant sign to the children of believing parents. There are pastors on our staff who will publicly administer this rite in response to a parent’s request, so long as the parent recognizes that the rite is merely symbolic, that it contains no mystical power nor does it save the child. The sign of covenant baptism is given to the children of believing parents only, so as to publicly identify these children as children of the covenant, and invoke the power of Christ in His community to assist parents in the nurture and discipleship of their children.
As opposed to many churches that practice child baptism, we also practice the tradition of infant dedication without the application of a covenant sign. We recognize that there are many who disagree with the practice of covenant infant baptism, but yet have a tradition of pledging their lives to raising their children to know and love the Lord. Prism’s priority is supporting families as they seek to honor the Lord, not settling a theological dispute.
I was baptized by sprinkling as a Roman Catholic infant, committed my heart to Christ in a non-denominational church and was subsequently immersed in a huge tub as an adult. I was a Presbyterian, baby-baptizing pastor for 15 years and now I am the pastor of a trans-denominational church. Contrary to what some might think, I don’t lack a Biblical conviction on the subject of baptism. I just have greater Biblical conviction about the unity of believers, even if it means that I have to respect others in my church who have a differing view on the subject of baptism.
While some churches in our particular association choose to be on one side or the other in this discussion, we chosen to reflect the diversity and beauty of the body of Christ by choosing to do both.