Straining at the Oars by H. Dana Fearon III & Gordon S. Mikoski

Author:H. Dana Fearon III & Gordon S. Mikoski
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

What are pastorally appropriate strategies for dealing with conflict within the congregation? What if the conflict is directed to the pastor?

How might conflict be used as an occasion for growth or improvement of the congregation?

To whom can pastors turn for help in resolving conflicts in the congregation?

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Baptisms and Marriages

A GRANDMOTHER ASKED her minister to baptize two grandchildren while they were spending a week with her when their parents were on vacation. The parents were not church members. One parent had been baptized and reared in the church, the other was not sure what she believed; and the grandmother, a devout Christian, wanted her grandchildren to receive the sacrament of baptism. It is possible that the children could have understood an explanation of baptism, but it was not certain that there would be familial follow-up in a church.

What is the right thing to do? Ordinarily, we view the sacrament of baptism as John Calvin did. He wrote that it is the “initiation by which we are received into the society of the church, in order that, engrafted in Christ, we may be reckoned among God’s children.”1 In the baptism of infants, the parents promise to rear the children in the Christian faith. This involves becoming a part of the life of worship, learning, fellowship, and the mission of a congregation. Likewise, the congregation promises to “guide and nurture by word and deed with love and prayer, encouraging him/her to know and follow Christ and to be a faithful member of this church.”2 In this way it is hoped that the grace conferred and signified in baptism by God becomes real to the child. As the child worships God, apprehends God’s love, learns about Jesus, and then partners with other fellow Christians in mutual support and in the mission of the church, the promise of God’s grace signified by baptism becomes real in the life of the believer.

Parents who are not Christians or church members but want their children baptized are asked to meet with the pastor to learn what profession in Jesus Christ means. The pastor also explains what membership in the church offers. If the parents profess their faith in Jesus Christ and unite with the church, the sacrament can be administered to the child. Calvin stated clearly that baptism and faith and life in the church are all connected: “Accordingly, let those who embrace the promise that God’s mercy is to be extended to our children deem it their duty to offer them to the church to be sealed by the symbol of mercy, and thereby arouse themselves to a sure confidence, because they see with their own eyes the covenant of the Lord engraved upon the bodies of their children.”3 By the commitment of parents in the life of the congregation and the nurturing of faith by the church, the promise of God’s grace can become a living reality in the lives of the baptized. For children old enough to understand that baptism is the beginning

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