General Assembly Resolution: Ritual For Infant Baptism

In June of this year, the Church of the Nazarene will be conducting its General Assembly.  The General Assembly is the supreme doctrine-formulating, lawmaking, and elective authority of the Church of the Nazarene. During past quadrenniums, I have presented to my district delegation, and through them to the General Assembly, a number of resolutions.  Some of them have passed and impacted the Manual of the Church of the Nazarene.  Some were amended.  Others were rejected.  -  This year I have presented eight resolutions.  I, frankly, do not know which ones my district has sponsored.  However, for any who may be delegates to the assembly, or those who know delegates, I would draw your attention to these and hope that you might support them.

Note: Bracketed text [ ] are words to be deleted from the current Manual. Underlined text ___ are words to be added to the current Manual. 

702. Baptism of Infants or Young Children

When the sponsors shall have presented themselves with the child (or children) the minister shall say:                                                                     

             DEARLY BELOVED:  The sacrament of baptism is the sign and seal of the new covenant of grace.  [While we do not hold that baptism imparts the regenerating grace of God, we do believe that Christian baptism]  It is a means of grace and signifies [for this young child] the prevenient nature of God’s gracious acceptance of this young child within the community of Christian faith [on the basis of prevenient grace].  It anticipates his (her) personal confession of faith in Jesus Christ.

The Christian faith, into which you now bring this child to be baptized, is affirmed in the Apostles’ Creed, which we confess:

The minister leads the congregation in the affirmation of the confession of faith.

“We believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth;

“And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from there He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

“We believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Church of Jesus Christ, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.”

Will you have your child baptized into this faith?

Response: I will.

 In presenting this child for baptism . . .

FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS:

1.  The changes above bring this ritual of baptism into much closer alignment with the ritual for The Baptism of Believers as well as our Article of Faith which identifies baptism as a means of grace.  Since believers baptisms and infant baptisms are both Christian baptisms and since (per the creed) we believe “in one baptism,” they two rituals should reflect the same reality.

2.  While the changes above bring this ritual into much closer alignment with that of The Baptism of Believers, it marks a greater distinction between it and the ritual for The Dedication of Infants or Young Children.  Since those two acts are significantly different, it is fitting that the rituals be sufficiently distinct.

3.  While clarifying statements may be made parenthetically by the presiding clergy, good rituals do not state what we do not believe (especially as an opening statement in the ritual).  Rather, good rituals state what we do believe.  The above resolution allows us to make the baptism of infants and young children a positive, celebratory time, rather than presenting a sense of uncertainty or defensiveness, which the wording of the current ritual may produce.

4.  The above resolution is more consistent with Wesleyan sacramental theology and the teachings of John Wesley, which utilizes the Apostles’ Creed, and which speaks of the sacraments as means of God’s grace.  (It is not that baptism, itself, imparts any grace, but rather that God does impart grace through the means, by faith.)

5.  The above resolution provides clarity as to the prevenient nature of God’s gracious acceptance the child within the community of Christian faith signified in baptism.

6.  The above resolution is more closely in line with Article of Faith XII. Baptism, paragraph 12, in that it neither reduces our beliefs, nor imposes doctrinal positions not stated within the Article of Faith.  Thus, the above resolution provides a ritual that is readily usable for all who espouse belief in Article of Faith XII, whereas, the current ritual does not provide such an opportunity for those whose belief in Article of Faith XII is understood in a consistent fashion with John Wesley’s own beliefs concerning what happens in infant baptism.