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| The Baptism of New Believers last July |
I believe that being baptized FROM death and darkness has a different meaning for each believer and that being baptized INTO life and light has a different meaning for each believer. On Easter Sunday one woman (Details are modified for the sake of confidentiality.) will be baptized from the death of broken relationships and poverty into the life of a community committed to her relational and economic prosperity. The other woman will be baptized from the death and darkness of isolation and sorrow into the new life of belonging and joy. In the past year or so, we have baptized ten other new believers and each of them was experiencing death in a particular way and each of them has been finding life in a way uniquely suited to their life situation. I have asked them a few well placed questions and learned that these new believers are able to give voice to the specific form of life they are experiencing on their journeys toward the light.
Though we don't usually talk about ministry to the diversity of the city in this way, I am convinced that this is the most important meaning of diversity. It takes into account two major principles: 1) The importance and uniqueness of the individual and 2) The primary meaning of salvation.
When new believers come to our church--this is the ideal that we hope happens--we promise them that tomorrow can be very different from today. Life can begin again and it can be abundant life beyond anyone's expectation. Immediately they know what I am talking about because they came to church, and to Christ, to find a particular kind of abundant life. One Sunday about a year ago a man came forward to seek Baptism and as we were talking, so I could introduce him to the church, he said to me, "I broke my relationship with my son. I want that relationship back. Pray for me and my son." We are still praying and we helped him to enroll in an awesome fatherhood program offered by Christians in our city. The individual, loved unconditionally by God, is job one.
Let me be very direct about this. Though many Christian Evangelism programs focus on heaven and hell, by asking questions like, "If you died today where would you spend eternity?" no one who has come forward in our church to accept Christ and seek Baptism has ever had heaven and hell as a primary concern. Actually, none of them have ever expressed to me that heaven and hell were a secondary concern. I am sure this will come up later, but not today. New believers in our church have a lot in common with people who have grown up in poverty. Their needs are immediate. Their longings are for a better life, TODAY. If you want to connect the Good New of Jesus to their lives, you must hang the gospel on the hook of their expressed needs. The way I see salvation, this is exactly as it should be. First and foremost God's salvation is about life lived today in the light of the love of Christ.
This experience of salvation is available to everyone, one new believer at a time. And this understanding of salvation can begin to overcome the damage done by adherents of various religions that condemn each other to hell.
This conclusion is directly connected to my sabbatical, especially my hope that during my journey to Turkey I will form relationships with Muslims who are living transparently in the light. I can read many books and hear many theories. But peace and unity in our world--an easing of the dark and deadly divisions among religious groups--are not built upon the sand of theories. Rather, it is the rock of relationships that will change the world.
Much more will be said about this.
