I Believe! What Next? Part 2

So, you have been watching live-stream worship. You’ve been stuck at home. Pandemic raises concerns. Gets you thinking. You've been tuning in to a live-stream worship service.

Now, you have been thinking. Over the last few weeks you have heard the message of Jesus. It’s not a new message for you. You’ve heard the stories before. You may have been raised in the church. But now, for reasons you can’t explain, its got you thinking.

Actually, you now believe. In one of the videos you were watching, you actually asked God to forgive you. You committed yourself to Jesus and living as Jesus taught. You are a disciple. Christian.

But, you feel like there is something else you need to do. But you don’t know what.

If you had been in a normal church, you know right away that you would rejoice with others. You would tell them about your decision. But you are not. You are stuck at home. 

Now what?

In my previous blog I told you that the you really need to find a way to tell someone else. I advised telling a Christian friend or reaching out to the church of the live-stream service you were watching. I hope you have done that.

What I recommend next may seem odd during this safer-at-home mandate, but its something to consider or at least to plan.

Get Baptized

The next thing you need to do after telling someone else about your commitment to Christ is to be baptized.

“What? Baptized! How am I going to do that?”

From a biblical perspective, baptism is the next step. It was the first thing Jesus did before beginning his ministry. It was what the Apostles told the first converts to Christianity to do in the book of Acts.

Baptism is the next discipleship step.

But how in the now?

In a best case scenario, you would have a Christian friend who might be able to put you in contact with a pastor who would be willing to baptize you. Of course, this would mean you are comfortable with another person being less than six feet from you during this time.

In a next best case scenario, you would at least have a plan so that when concerns are lower, you could get baptized.

There is another option which I am sure I am going to get thrown under the bus for suggesting by my colleagues. But desperate times require desperate measures. Have a close Christian friend who you know and trust baptize you.

Yep. There it is. I said it. Let the flogging begin. But here me out.

There is nothing in scripture that states only pastors can baptize. Yes, typically conducting baptisms is a function of preachers as a way of ensuring the appropriateness of the baptism (Again, we are not in typical times). On the other hand, the great commission given by Christ instructs all disciples to baptize others. So, any Christian can baptize another.

I tend to agree with the Ethiopian in Acts 8 who upon hearing the gospel from Phillip said,

“Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?”

So perhaps your spouse, a parent, a close friend (Christians of course) can perform your baptism if you want to have it done now. But baptism is the next step you need to do or at least plan.