I'm in Pittsburgh tonight, and this afternoon I had lunch with Terrific Theology Professor, so I asked him how I might frame a response to the confirmation class (see previous post).
"You don't join a church," he said in some exasperation. "You've already been joined to the church by your baptism."
Our professors here at the seminary invest a lot of time explaining to us that the whole idea of "joining a church" (Church shopping, anyone? Switching churches? Oh yeah, BTDT ~) is a product of our culture of American individualism and freedom of choice, whereas our theology tells us that we are called into the church by God, that our identity as God's children is God's gift to us, that God initiates God's claim on us at baptism, and that it is God, not we ourselves, who is doing the choosing.
Of course, we're Americans, and so we can't stand any of this.
"If you can get through to them that they aren't joining the church," he continued, "but that they've already been joined to the church by God, then you'll have really done something."
Have them look at it as reafirming there faith. If they are baptist.
ReplyDeletenot sure why I joined the two churches I have joined as an adult. I like what the professor said. Listening to dreams.
ReplyDeleteI have never joined a church, and was never baptised as a child, and have not gotten baptised as an adult. I dont know that I would feel "already joined to a church by God" - as I have yet to gain that experience, nor do i feel that God, as of yet anyhow, has done any choosing for me - or for a lot of other folks, as many churches seem to have issues with attendance. But some in our area are over-flowing. I have been thinking of the "less crowded" version as of late though, as i think one would need the quiet and solitude to attempt a connection.
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