Methodists May Change Their Stance on Baptism

In the frontier world of Methodism, where a rugged individualism was required to survive and revivals emphasized personal decisions for Christ, baptism was understood more as an act of human choice than divine grace.

Placing supreme faith in their own abilities, early Methodists were among many Christians who paid little attention to the mystery of God’s presence in the sacraments. God did not choose church members; individuals had to decide for themselves.

Now, at the end of a century that has seen two world wars, the Holocaust and the “ethnic cleansing” of populations, there is a turning away from the idea that human beings approach God solely on their own terms.

The United Methodist Church is the latest religious group to place a renewed emphasis on sacramental life in a proposed revision of its policy on baptism--a change that would place the denomination squarely on the side of those who feel that God calls members to the church, not the other way around.

The proposal by the church’s General Board of Discipleship recommends that people who have been baptized but have not made a personal confession of faith no longer be referred to as preparatory members. Instead, all baptized people, down to the youngest infant, would be considered full members of the church.

“The sacrament is primarily a gift of divine grace. Neither parents nor infants are the chief actors; baptism is an act of God in and through the church,” says the proposed statement, “By Water and the Spirit: A United Methodist Understanding of Baptism.”

The statement and proposed changes in church law will be presented to the United Methodist General Conference in April in Denver.

To those proposing the change that would allow baptized infants to be considered full church members, it is a matter of a return to Methodist tradition.

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, believed in balancing the sacramental and evangelical aspects of the faith, according to the drafters of the baptism statement.

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Retaining the sacramental theology from his Anglican heritage, Wesley taught that in infant baptism, a child was cleansed of the guilt of original sin, initiated into a covenant with God and admitted into the Church. A willing human response later in life also was required, but the path to salvation began with God in baptism.

In the United States, Wesley’s sacramental teachings tended to be ignored in favor of a faith in which human ability and action were stressed.

This trend intensified as the culture influenced the church, from the rugged individualism of frontier life to the early 20th century optimism that technological and scientific advances could solve the problems of humanity.

“By the middle of the 20th century, Methodism in general had ceased to understand baptism as authentically sacramental. Rather than an act of divine grace, it was seen as an expression of human choice,” the proposed baptism statement says.

Today, the tendency to downplay baptism and emphasize confirmation or other adult professions of faith is particularly strong in areas such as the South and Midwest, where denominations such as Baptists that do not subscribe to infant baptism dominate the religious culture.

Currently, the Methodist church has two categories of members--preparatory and full. Under the new proposal, people would become full members when they are baptized, and would become professing members after they make a commitment to the faith at an older age.

“Baptized members are full members of the church in a theological sense,” said the Rev. Mark Trotter, chairman of the church’s Baptism Study Committee, which worked for seven years on the baptism statement.

In practical terms, the new understanding would mean that not only children but people with severe mental disabilities could be considered full members of the church.

“It says that God is able to and wills to include all persons,” said the Rev. Daniel Benedict, director of worship resources for the General Board of Discipleship.

Other Christian groups also are moving in the direction of emphasizing the more mystical elements of their faith.

A task force on sacramental practices in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has proposed allowing infants to receive communion, and urged churches to recapture their tradition of celebrating communion weekly. U.S. Roman Catholic bishops earlier this year held up the right of church members with mental disabilities to receive the sacraments whenever feasible under church law.

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The tragedies of the 20th century and the realization of the limits of technology have contributed to the religious swing toward dependence on God, say people who worked on the United Methodist statement.

“We’ve lost our confidence in human beings and their own ability to solve their problems,” said Trotter, pastor of First United Methodist Church in San Diego.