Research Insight Two: In a Baptist congregation, the reasons people get baptized are more varied than you might think. It is more than just a testimony from new Christians.
So, who gets baptized in your church — and why?
For Baptists and other denominations, baptism is a spiritual testimony. A person’s salvation is the most significant transformation they experience. It marks the beginning of their journey as an ever-maturing Christlike disciple.
Counting baptisms should be simple, but it is not. The more complex we make the process, the more we blur the focus on evangelism. Here are five ways baptisms are counted. Consider the implications for evangelism. The focus is not to make a doctrinal statement but to consider the impact on Kingdom growth.
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First, Baptists primarily count baptisms when a person receives Jesus as Savior and Lord and then testifies to this by being baptized by immersion into the congregation’s fellowship.
Second, a person was baptized as an infant in another Christian tradition. Later, they confirmed their commitment to Jesus as Savior and Lord, but they were never baptized by immersion to bear witness to their new life in Christ.
Third, because baptism by immersion matters, many Baptist congregations will also baptize by immersion those who join their fellowship from a congregation that uses a different approach to baptism. They were baptized after becoming followers of Jesus, but the mode of baptism was not immersion.
Fourth, regardless of the method or motivation, a person was baptized as a child or as an adult before spiritually accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. Therefore, they have not yet publicly testified to their new life in Christ through baptism.
Fifth, a person accepted an invitation to be baptized but later realized they did not understand what they were experiencing and had not yet become a Christian. Their emotions at the time led to their baptism rather than a transformation of their spiritual life. They need the opportunity to testify to their faith through believer’s baptism.
Questions about baptisms
One: Which of the five categories most clearly represents the baptism of a new Christian soon after they received Jesus as their Lord and Savior? Consider the account of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:35–38.
Two: Which ones, for solid spiritual reasons, count people more than once because they are baptized more than once?
Three: Over the life of congregations, do the reasons for and the identity of those who are baptized change? As the average age of congregations increases, fewer children are likely to grow up, experience salvation and be baptized. Also, perhaps more people are coming from other denominations who were already Christians but had not been baptized by immersion.
Four: Are fewer people overall baptized — as happens in many congregations after they reach an acceptable size — because they reduce their emphasis on evangelism? Some congregations reduce their focus on evangelism once they reach a comfortable size. Somewhere late in a congregation’s first generation, the emphasis on evangelism decreases. Is your congregation one of these?
Five: Are baptisms the right metric to count, or should congregations place more emphasis on new Christians? Pastor conversations and denominational reports often ask about the number of baptisms. Should the question be changed?
Coming up next
Research Insight Three: Why is it important to keep up with the average age and the years people have been members of your congregation? Which is more important?
EDITOR’S NOTE — George Bullard spent five decades in Baptist congregational and denominational ministry. His ministry roles included three churches, three associations, three state conventions and one national entity. He began as a columnist for TAB Media Group’s publication The Baptist Paper in 2022. Bullard now serves as a strategic thinking mentor for Christian leaders through his ForthTelling Innovation ministry. TAB Media Group published his new book “Soaring with Faith: The Difference Maker for Congregations” — available on Amazon.
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