Baptisms and Burials
"What would happen if every church represented here today started praying to have more Baptism than Burials in 2024?" I had not prepared that question in advance of the Homecoming Celebration at Warren Avenue Christina Church. Rev. Kentry Ellison, pastor of The Way The Truth & The Life Christian Church was preaching. Rev. Kentry Ellison's sermon on the Great Commission struck a chord with me. As he spoke about the importance of sharing the Gospel not only through acts of service but also through our words and conversations, I felt the Holy Spirit prompt me to share this question with the congregation.
The idea had been on my mind lately as we were finalizing our ALEX/Yearbook reports, which include recording baptisms. Rev. Ellison's message stirred up memories of a prayer I had prayed during a particularly challenging time, when the church I was serving was experiencing frequent funerals. Despite the grief, I had held onto hope, praying for new life to outnumber death. I was still relatively new to pastoral ministry. Our pace was a funeral every other week. The grief was heavy enough that I was close to quitting ministry altogether. One of the ways I found the hope to move forward came in adding the names of the ones baptized in the past twelve months to our annual All Saints Day Commemoration. That's when I started praying, God may there be more baptisms than burials when we arrive on this date next year.
Because Evangelism begins with prayer.
Evangelism is about sharing the Good News. It is God's message of grace and love to humanity embodied in Jesus Christ and expressed by Christ's followers. It does not originate with us. It does not end with us. Prayer connects us to the Gospel's source and end. When a church's evangelistic energies begin in the search for effective techniques, they often treat people as targets, pawns, or marks. When the church begins in prayer, we are reminded that those who need to hear the Good News are people made in God's image. They need to know what God has done for them because God has done it FOR THEM.
The Prayer underscores our reliance on God.
My prayer that our baptisms would outnumber our burials was born of desperation. At the time I started praying that prayer, I was languishing. I needed God to do something. We do not give ourselves new life. Neither life itself nor resurrection comes about because of sheer force of will. I couldn't do anything about the number of people who were passing away. It was a strong reminder that we are dependent on God for everything. And we are not alone in this. Romans 10:9 says we are to, "believe in our hearts that GOD raised Jesus from the dead." Jesus did not raise himself from the dead. It was God's act. The power of life and death is in God's hands not the minister's, not the church's. Praying my simple prayer was a constant reminder to me that we as living creatures, as the church, and as those who place our hope in God's promise of eternal life, depend on God. The longer I do ministry, the more frequently I sing the hymn's refrain, "I need Thee, Oh, I need thee; every hour I need Thee."
Prayer leads to actions.
Someone will say--OK, but the church needs more than prayer; we need a plan. True, but pray first. Prayer is what makes the church a church and not another organization. More importantly, prayer gives us the avenue to develop plans and practices to share the Good News. I lean frequently on the passage in James that says, "If any of you is lacking wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and without finding fault and it will be given to you" (James 1:5). We pray for wisdom, believe that God will give it to us and then seek plans that emerge from the heart and mind of God. A minister I served with once prayed, "May our prayers become our intentions and our intentions become our actions." To my knowledge, he only prayed that once. I remember him praying it as part of a pastoral prayer. But, I remember it mainly because the secretary of the church also heard it, wrote it down, and kept it near her computer. Prayer is not the only element of evangelism. Evangelism needs authentic belief, joy, and the courage to open our mouths and speak the message God has given to us. Prayer is not the only step. It's just the first one.
I'd love to say that once I started praying that prayer, things instantly turned around. They did not. One year out of fifteen witnessed a tie. However, things did start happening. I became more intentional about inviting people who had been visiting a long time if they wanted to join. I worked to make Pastors class a more vital experience. We offered welcome experiences for people. Most of all, I found myself talking about the church needs less and about faith realities more. I also found renewed strength to work through grief of saying good bye. I deepened my faith in the words that I said at almost every graveside--the God who made us is faithful and will not abandon us to the grave but will, like Christ, raise us up and cause us to walk in newness of life.