Can the preparation of non-christian parents for infant baptism be used as a tool of mission engagement - Essay Example

as a possible tool for mission engagement, depending on how it is used and how the religious leaders can utilize its potential for spreading God’s word. This paper shall consider the question: can the preparation on non-Christian parents for infant baptism be used as a tool of mission engagement? It shall assess and evaluate this question from the point of view of a student placing himself in a position of a Methodist student minister on placement. An unchurched couple approached this student Methodist minister for the infant baptism of their child.

The couple did not come to the church, but they approached the local Methodist minister for the baptism of their child. The task now is to determine how baptism can be used as a tool for mission engagement. The preparation of non-Christian parents for infant baptism can be used as a tool of mission engagement because the principles and the concepts behind baptism can be used to make the unchurched couple understand about Christianity and its teachings. As a Methodist minister, I can explain the process and the teachings behind baptism.

In the process of explaining baptism – its teachings and purposes – it is possible to engage the couple into participating more in church activities and in living by the teachings of Christ. First and foremost, I can explain the basis of baptism to the couple. Infant baptism, based on several Christian sects proclaims that “both believers and their children are included in God’s covenant love. Children of believers are to be baptized without undue delay, but without undue haste” (Presbyterian, n.d). It is important for me, as a Methodist minister to express to the unchurched couple that Baptism is a sacrament which expresses the truth about God’s infinite and unconditional love; and a sacrament which already embraces people even before they respond in faith.

It is also vital for me to emphasize to the unchurched couple that as parents bring their babies to