TAK Article: Family Baptism and Culture

TAK Article: Family Baptism and Culture

As you may have noticed from our last update I said that I wanted to write about how I came to the decision to agree with having our son, Jake, baptized as a baby. It’s an interesting come around for me, and I think it has a good point, so I’ve thought it a good thing to share.

From what I know back home…

When I think about baptism, as well as, the upbringing I’ve had in our church there are a lot of confusing things that can come out. This is a rather sad statement, but it is the truth.

For one, we often get quite defensive about how we do baptism. Arguments can start really quick about whether you need to be fully immersed in water, or if sprinkling will do, or if the Holy Spirit has to fall on you in a specific way as soon as you have been baptized, etc. For another, we are all made up of different backgrounds with different ideas of what baptism means. We usually have a few Bible verses to back up our own point of view too.

Well, to be honest, this is where I was before God started teaching me about other cultures and the idea that other people might do things different from how I’ve always done it (and that they weren’t sinners or heretics for it).

When I went to Idaho to take my Discipleship Training School I was in for an experience that I never saw coming. I had always figured that I was pretty smart and that I knew my Bible pretty well, but I certainly ran into people who could have put me I my place; furthermore, I saw they were a lot closer to God than I was. Gathering this, though I thought I was still more right than they were, I figured I should probably listen to them and perhaps learn something too.

Several weeks after getting there I heard a speaker say that not all cultures need to worship God the same way that we do back in Michigan, or even in the US. In fact, they may not need to do other things that we would find as absolutes either. This took my mind a while to accept, but after a couple of years of thinking about it I found myself agreeing with him.

When the gospel goes into a place it, the good news, remains the same; however, the way in which the people celebrate that change may be very different from how we would celebrate it.

The Gospel Doesn’t Change

When we talk about the gospel I would guess that John 3:16 would run through your head, right? If not, you would probably know at least part of John 3:16-17.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever should believe on Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” (NIV)

There are a lot of things behind these two verses, but they are the gospel in a nutshell.

As we go to places that have never heard this good news before we don’t change it, likewise, when we go across the street to tell someone about Christ our message remains the same. God loves you; He has sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to save you from death; you need to trust in His Son save you; He wants to live a life of relationship with you that has no end.

When we go to other nations and when we stay in our own countries it is in this message that God gives us that we have any hope whatsoever. Outside of it there is nothing worth living for and in it is everything, even relationship with God.

Now, when a nation receives this good news and applies it to how they live the next part starts happening – how then will they follow Christ?

Making Jesus the Lord of Your Culture

I was about four years old when I asked Jesus to come into my heart. As far as I can remember there wasn’t a lot of things that could really convict me at four years old, but the lady at Sunday School Mrs. Nita Clark, I believe, had told us about Jesus and said that we needed His forgiveness for our sins. So, laying an old sofa before falling asleep, I asked Jesus into my heart.

If I think about it a little bit there were a few areas that I had problems with: I would often steal cookies, sometimes I would tell a lie to get out of trouble, and I wouldn’t really do what my parents told me.

At the time, these were the areas of my culture that I had to work on. They are pretty universal too, in every culture people steal, tell lies, and disrespect their parents. I can remember all of my Sunday School teachers teaching from the Bible about these things.

Unique to my circumstance, perhaps, I also had outside chores like taking care of the chickens. The chickens needed to be watered, have their feeder cleaned, and checked for new eggs every day – in the winter this had to be done twice a day. If these were not done the eggs may become damaged, the chickens may not get grain to eat, or may die of thirst if it was too warm.

To me, that is what it meant to honor my parents. To another young person, what it may mean to honor their parents may look very different. How would you have needed to honor your parents as a child? The same is true as we go to different cultures and to different nations.

In John 14:15-17, Jesus promises to send us another helper.

“ If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” (KJV)

Through the Holy Spirit we can learn to discern what in our culture is honoring to God as we follow Jesus Christ.  I had to listen to my parents to know how best to honor them as a child, and so, as we become children of God, we need to ask our Father how it is best for us to honor Him. This will change with our culture because each culture celebrates God in their own unique ways.

Family Baptism

Now, I hope I’ve described how it is that I have come to a deciding place about baptizing our child so young here in the Netherlands.

As followers of Christ we need to search out the scriptures for what is clearly right and wrong (the stealing, the lying, and the dishonoring of parents); when this is not clear we need to go to the Holy Spirit to see what is most honoring to God in our cultural context. As followers of Christ God gives us the grace to do this and we have the responsibility to do so too.

In Acts we find several places where baptism happens; the Ethiopian is baptized in a body of water (8:35-40); the Italian, Cornelius, and those with him who heard the gospel from Peter (10:44-47); Lydia, who sold purple, from Macedonia, and her whole household (16:6-15); later in the same place, the jailor who had kept Paul and Silas believed on Jesus Christ with his whole house and was baptized (16:26-34); in Corinth, Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue was baptized with his whole house (18:1-8); and finally, Paul mentions his baptism while reciting his testimony (22:12-16).

In all of these places we find people who believed on the Lord and were then baptized; sometimes entire households were baptized (fathers, mothers, and children) and it is here that I am unsure of what to think.

Even from my understanding as a child asking Jesus to come into your heart has been a very personal thing, though, it is also very American way of explaining God’s grace.

We tend to say that here, this point in my life, is where God’s grace starts.

If we look at how God reveals Himself to us, though, we see that God is working in us before we ever say yes to Him. Foremost in this case is that “God sent His only Son” well before I ever chose to accept Him into my heart. God is always the one who makes the first initiative towards us.

That is the heart that I see and choose to accept, along with my wife who was raised this way, in choosing to have our child baptized. To call it an infant baptism wouldn’t be correct, for he hasn’t done anything as an infant to be baptized, but rather we see God reaching out to him already through the family that he has been born into. As a family, we choose to have him baptized so that as he grows up he will always know that God has taken the initiative towards him first. We also choose to commit ourselves to showing him Jesus Christ through our words and our actions.

This baptism is given to him in expectation of all the wonderful ways in which God will continue calling Jake to Himself and His Son, Jesus Christ.

I have prayed about this decision very often and I feel that will be a good way to share about the love of God to our son. I don’t think that it is for everyone, nor would I have chosen it if I didn’t have my wife who has been raised in this context. Unless the Holy Spirit convicts us, we plan on continuing this practice as long as we are around other followers of Christ who choose to celebrate the gospel in this way.

If you have any questions or you would like to talk about this subject more, please, contact me!

In Christ,
The Abiding Kingdom

Weekly Update: February 23rd, 2012

Weekly Update: Thursday, 02/23/12

Hello again!

You may have noticed that there was no weekly update for the past two weeks. But now I am back with a new weekly update and some extra info on the more special things that have happened to us in the past weeks.

Most of last week’s Thursday I spent traveling once again back and forth from Schiphol. This time to see my mom of after her two-week visit to The Netherlands. It was good, but it did make me realize again how much my home means to me and that I do miss it. As I am sure my mom will miss us and especially our son, Jake. And I am looking forward to the possibility of spending a good portion of the month of June back home in Michigan if God opens up this possibility for us by freeing up my wife’s visa to return to America early enough.

As for our son, he should not have any problem going to America. For by now he is officially recognized an US Citizen. To make this happen the three of us went on a big journey all the way to Amsterdam to report the birth of Jay Edward and apply for his first ever passport. We did all have a bit of a laugh when his passport arrived in the mail with his baby picture that makes him look more chubby than he has ever been. But it really is a joy to know that with all our personal visa needs, that at least he is welcome in both of our countries.

The other big event in the past weeks in our sons life was his baptism. Yes, we decided to have Jake baptized in my wife’s church according to their customs. It took me a bit to think about since I am not from a church background that practices baptizing infants, but in the end I decided in favor of having the baptism with my wife. This I did both to honor my wife and her family’s background and of course because I can come behind it. One of the things that was important for me to come to this decision is that it is actually not right to call it “infant baptism” as we often do. Nor that it is believed that through this our son will be saved. Being saved is still through grace, and believing and faith still ask for a personal choice and relationship with God. And the baptism would better be called “family baptism”. Our son is baptized because he is part of our family and through that of the bigger family of believers. And even though this does not say anything about his faith yet, God already comes to him and can work in him through us. And we promise in his baptism that we will be there for him to tell him about his Father in heaven and to teach him to the best of our ability what it is to live a life with Him who loves us and is with us. *

The last thing I want to write about is not about our Jake. Since the last update my wife and I have decided that we will be working with one of our schools in Idaho after we will return there. And last Thursday evening we were even able to be a part of our very first Skype meeting. As staying involved can be a challenge since we are so far away now, it was a blessing to be involved in this way, if even only for a little bit and it has definitely made me more excited for the future.

Other Updates:

– Our friends Sam and Beth are now married! I wrote about him arriving in England last time and by now they are officially husband and wife. The end for them to a long waiting and the beginning of a life of learning to love each other more day by day.

Scripture

This week another scripture from Genesis, but this time through my wife. As she was reading her eye fell on Genesis 28: 15. This verse is part of the greater promise that God makes with Jacob when he is on his way away from his birth family. This is what it says:

“I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

It is a very comforting text to me and it shows a lot of God’s heart. Jacob made a mess of things. He is not on his way for a nice vacation, he is leaving because he is afraid that his brother might kill him for something he has done. Still, Gods words are with him. He does not let us go, he watches over us and he wants to come with us.

Another thing it shows about God is that he will do what he promises. I know from experience that this is a difficult one to keep believing in. Or worse perhaps, not to start doubting that God actually promised something. Still I am drawn to remember His faithfulness, for His words are true and He will not fail them.

But what may have struck my wife the most is the specific feeling that the middle part of this promise was also meant for us, or perhaps for me specifically. “I will bring you back to this (your) land” And I do believe and stand strong in the promise that God will bring me back to my land.

Even now that time has shown that there will be more before returning home for a longer time, I know that God has not forgotten it and that he knows how much my home means to me. But I also know that whatever will be before that time, or whatever might be after that I will wholeheartedly pursue that which God will call us too. With God and with us as a our own family.

And I guess my challenge to you is to do the same. To stand strong in the knowledge that God is with you even when you do not feel him; to keep believing God for that which he promises even if it seems so far away; and to keep trusting God with your heart and live with Him in every step He will take you on. I know it is a challenge, as it is to me. But I believe it is worth it. For He is worth it.

To Him be the glory forever and ever, Amen.

Praise & Prayer Report

– My mom’s visit here was good and she was even able to be here for our sons baptism. Also through the papers she brought with her our son is now recognized as an American allowing him access to my country, both of these are great blessings to us.

– The end has come to a good time for us in Olst. But both because it is not going all too well with my wife’s mom and through other practical reasons we have chosen to remain in Enschede with my wife’s dad for the remainder of our time in The Netherlands. This does ask for a bit of adjusting and figuring out daily life in a new place. Please keep both us and my wife’s parents in your prayers.

– As we are really starting to look to the future we are starting to notice how important it will be for my wife her visa interview to be in time and for the different stages of her visa to be approved. Please be in prayer during this ongoing process and pray that Gods will may be shown through it.

Thanks for all your prayers!

In Christ,
The Abiding Kingdom

* As is written, I am very much from a Church background, though, we don’t practice Baptizing infants. With that said, I am behind my son’s baptism here and I am planning on writing about how I came to that conclusion.

Weekly Update: February 2nd, 2012

Weekly Update: Thursday, 02/02/12

Hello again!

It’s finally cold here!

I am rather enjoying the cold, but most other the people don’t seem to agree with my excitement. I did see some people skating over across a field today though, perhaps they would agree.

With the cold Menke and I haven’t ventured to far away from the apartment and we’ve begun talking about what we want our family to look like. We’ve been talking about savings for our children, how to keep track of our finances, how to better communicate, and other things.

Perhaps we are a little late in talking about some of this stuff, but we are enjoying the conversation.

With all of that talk we are starting to feel like better parents too. Jake is four weeks old now; however, I still don’t know whether that feels like a long time or only yesterday. We’re both really excited for the future and we look forward to sharing it with you all!

Other Updates:

– Our friends Sam and Beth are in England  together! About a week ago Sam was granted his visa for coming to England to marry Beth and now he is there!

Scripture

I’ve continued reading through Genesis this week. I’ve spent the largest part reading through the story of Jacob. I remember my Mom sitting down with us as kids and showing us big flash cards about the stories, though, they left out a good bit of information.

Did you know that Jacob didn’t have children with only Leah and Rachel? There’s a lot of distrust, bad relationships, and blatant immorality throughout the story. Over and over again you see people not trusting God and trying to work things out on their own strength; thus causing the bad relationships, mistrust, and other immoral acts throughout Genesis.

Still, though, God chose to work through people to bring His kingdom into the world and you see the beginnings of it in Genesis. Over and over again, when we make a mess of things, God is still there to set things right again.

The same things happen today, in each of our lives, but the answer is still to trust God and have faith in what God is doing.

Praise & Prayer Report

– I will be picking my Mom up from the airport tomorrow! I’ll need to leave quite early in the morning and I would like some prayers for the travel! We will be spending several days in Olst and then we will be heading to Enschede for the remainder of her visit.

– We will be traveling to Amsterdam on the 7th to report our son’s birth to the US consulate. My Mom has brought over a lot of documents to show that I really am an US citizen and that I’ve been living there. Please pray that everything will go smoothly!

Thanks for all your prayers!

In Christ,
The Abiding Kingdom