going deeper

There was a little old cleaning woman that went to the local church. When the invitation was given at the end of the service, she went forward wanting to become a member. The pastor listened as she told him how she had accepted Jesus and wanted to be baptized and become a member of the church.

The pastor thought to himself, “Oh my, she is so unkempt, even smells a little, and her fingernails are not clean. She picks up rubbish, cleans toilets – what would the members think of her.” He told her that she needed to go home and pray about it and then decide.

The following week, here she came again. She told the pastor that she had prayed about it and still wanted to be baptized. “I have passed this church for so long. It is so beautiful, and I truly want to become a member.

Again the pastor told her to go home and pray some more. A few weeks later while out eating at the restaurant, the pastor saw the little old lady. He did not want her to think that he was ignoring her so he approached her and said, “I have not seen you for a while. Is everything all right?”

“Oh, yes,” she said. “I talked with Jesus, and he told me not to worry about becoming a member of your church.”

“He did?” said the pastor.

“Oh, yes” she replied. “He said even He hasn’t been able to get into your church yet, and He’s been trying for years.”

Ouch!

I hope and pray that this would never be true of churches. However if we are honest we often have ‘standards’ that we expect. They may be unspoken, or even unthought, but they are there. We expect people to be able to read (we give them books when they come in, or words on a screen); we expect people to want to sing; we expect people not to interrupt the service (especially the sermon); we expect people to be outgoing and want to talk with us.

The Ship of Fools has a ‘mystery worshipper’ programme, where volunteers visit different churches and write a report on what happened. I often wonder what they would make of our church. Would they find that we have excluded them in some way?

… and relax.

That wasn’t what I was going to blog about this morning! The joke was meant to be a segue into my excitement that we currently have four people in our church who are beginning to prepare for believer’s baptism. Baptising people is one of the highlights of being a minister because it is sharing in one of the spiritual highlights of people’s lives. It is a moment when we recognise what God has been doing, when faith in Jesus is proclaimed by testimony and action, and when we rejoice together at God’s grace.

The material we use is this book: Making a Splash, which was originally prepared to help young people understand and be ready for being baptised. But I think that the pattern in it (exploring the promises that are made) is a good pattern, so we use this book with all ages. You can get it from the Baptist Union of Great Britain’s Online Store.

What are the questions and promises?

‘Do you believe in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit?’

‘I do’

‘Do you confess Jesus Christas your Lord and Saviour?’

‘I do.’

‘Do you turn from sin, renounce evil and intend to follow Christ?’

‘I do.’

‘Will you live within the fellowship of the church and will you serve Jesus Christ in the world?’

‘I will’

If you can answer those questions affirmatively and you have not yet been baptised, what’s stopping you?

Be blessed, be a blessing.