I have a confession.
Before I became a pastor for an American Baptist church, the burning question I secretly wanted to ask a Baptist was ... why center an entire denomination around the rite of baptism?
Other denominational names made a fair amount of sense:
- Some were named after their founder - like the Lutherans.
- The Methodists decided to take an intended insult and make it their identity.
- Other denominations tried to corner the market - calling themselves simply Disciples of Christ or Church of Christ.
But why claim baptism as your identifier?
After all, you've never heard of a gathering of Communionists.
But a year and a half in, I am starting to appreciate how central baptism is to the Christian life - or at least how central it is supposed to be.
It is all about that vast gulf between before and after meeting Jesus.
And THAT has reason to be front and center in our churches' lives, no matter the denomination.
Pray for me - this coming Sunday is my first opportunity to baptize anyone as an official Baptist preacher! I will be baptizing a father and his son and I am very excited.
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