It’s that time of year again in the Wesleyan Church. It’s time to fill out year end reports. Some people don’t like doing them. Some openly complain about them on Facebook forums. Many say that we don’t really measure the things that really matter. I was blessed when I first became a Senior Pastor to have someone give me a spreadsheet to enter weekly and monthly statistics. This makes year end reporting a breeze so you won’t hear any bashing from me.
One of the things we measure is baptisms. We measure other things too like church attendance and salvations, but I won’t to speak to the issue of baptisms. As I’ve been reading through the New Testament as part of the #40daybible Community Bible Experience I see lots of people joining the new movement of Christianity. It never fails. Every time someone believes it appears to me that they are baptized. I think baptism is the very first step in the process of making a disciple of Jesus Christ. So, when I see church statistics show that we have twice as many salvations as baptisms this is a troubling thing to me.
Of course, you know what people say about statistics. The numbers can be fudged. There have been cases where a pastor reported higher salvations and baptisms in order to receive a district award from the Wesleyan Church. Every year, the districts in North America publish District Journals recording all of these statistics. Every District Journal usually has a roll of honored dead, list of retired ministers, and minutes from the District Conference.
Here’s the challenge. Let’s put the name of every person baptized in a local church in the District Journal. If baptism is part of the great commission and the lives of changed people will determine whether our denomination is here 100 years from now then let’s celebrate this step of faith and discipleship with more than a number in a box. Church leaders have raised the bar for churches that fail to report a single salvation or baptism in a year. Again, a pastor can easily throw a number in the box to get them off his back. But a name. God help the pastor who would fudge a name. God help the pastor who would be okay with their church being listed with no names baptized that year.
I know this wouldn’t fix all that ails us. There are churches who baptize folks only to see them walk out the back door of the church. Maybe they would be less likely to do that if there were a reminder of the step they took. We’ve got to learn to celebrate with one another. There is too much tension between big churches and small churches some times. When a church of any size baptizes and disciples a new believer that is a win for all of us! Give me a list of names that my whole church can pray for! Come and ask me how so and so off my baptized list from last year is doing. A win is a win no matter which church it is. A disciple made in your local church is a disciple made in THE Church and as a Wesleyan, I am a partner with both.
If you think this is some random rant you would be mistaken. You see, I’m on the Conference Action Committee for the South Carolina District of the Wesleyan Church. Guess what topic I will bring up for discussion at our next meeting. Guess what I hope comes before the General Conference in 2016.
Am I completely off base on this? If so, let me know by leaving a comment below.