Exploring Baptism During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Most baptisms don’t receive a lot of thought: a pool, a minister, a new convert. If we’re fortunate we’ll get a message and a testimony, maybe a meal afterwards. But what have we really done? Have we accomplished anything for eternity in most of our baptisms? Painfully, many baptisms are not baptisms at all: someone just got wet.

In keeping with God using all things for good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose, the current restrictions have provided us with an opportunity to think about and work through things that have become mere tradition.

The history of baptism is not so clear cut as many of us might think. As the gospel found its way into desert places water could become a scarcity, in other places local traditions sought to drown out the symbolism of the event, and sometimes circumstances don’t allow for a full immersion.

When Philip met and explained Christ to an Ethiopian court official, they were in a place devoid of water. After some traveling they came to a place with enough water, and the Ethiopian immediately requested baptism.

[Engraving Credit: William Carey University]

When William Carey and the Serampore mission saw their first converts, they held a baptism at the river Hooghly, the natives in attendance deduced that this new religion worshiped the river just like many other religions in the North of India.

The Swiss Brethren in Zurich wrestled with the idea of baptism for months before any of them were baptized (or as the Catholic and Presbyterians in the area decreed – anabaptized/rebaptized). Because of the close church-state relationship in the area, biblical baptism had been completely lost. There were none who had been baptized previously to administer baptism to those seeking it, so after his confession of faith before the group, George Blaurock was baptized by his friend Conrad Grable. After which, Blaurock baptized Grable and the rest in attendance. Because they did it secretly, they chose the method of effusion (of pouring) rather than of immersion.

[Photo Credit: Steve Sanchez]

The Didache, an early church manual, recognizes that baptism will not always be a simple matter. It records, “Baptize thus: …in living water; but if you have not living water, baptize in cold water; and if you can not in cold, in warm. But if you have not either, pour out water thrice upon the head in the name of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit.”

My friend Steve Sanchez, pastor of Community Church of the Hills in Johnson City, Texas, had the privilege of leading a man to Christ in the Veteran’s Administration Hospital just days before he died in 2016. There would be no way to immerse this man, so Steve baptized him by effusion in his hospital bed. The testimony is powerful, and the mode of the baptism is following in obedience to the commands of Christ and beautifully displays the hope of resurrection in his life.

[Photo Credit: SBC IMB – Siberian Baptist Church]

In very cold places, where it seems prohibitive to immerse new converts, it is common to see baptisms on Resurrection Sunday or earlier where the ice has had to be cut to make a baptismal pool.

During the Civil War the preaching of chaplain Willie Ragland led to the conversion of a soldier named Goodwin. Goodwin sought baptism, but everyone knew the Union army was close. Finally they were given permission to traverse to the Rapidan river unarmed. As they began to sing, "There is a Fountain Filled With Blood", the Union soldiers rushed to the opposite river bank and joined their voice in chorus with the Confederates and witnessed the proclamation of the gospel in Goodwin's life. The danger to lives for observing baptism was huge, but obedience to their God - and declaring his saving power - was more important to the members of the 13th Virginia.

Painting Credit: Resurrection Morn - Hong Min Zou

So this leads to you, dear reader, how are you going to fulfill the command to baptize new believers? Of course you’re not keeping someone out of Heaven if they die before being baptized because you waited for COVID-19 to subside or see a vaccine, because baptism is only an outward proclamation (not a sign, and never a seal) of the inward work Christ has done.

But now you’ve been introduced to some ways the church in the past has baptized its new converts and the struggles they have faced. My brother Scott was recently baptized by our pastor in Ohio, only him and the pastor were present, but the protestari (forward testifying) of the gospel was made via video, and I posit that the intention of the ordinance is fulfilled in this baptism, as the church and world witness it. Take a look:

[Video Credit: First Baptist Church, New Lebanon Ohio]

Regardless, dear reader, now is the perfect time to proclaim the gospel through the symbolism of baptism, buried in death with Christ, raised to walk in newness of life, and invite all who hear it to repent of their sins and place their faith in Jesus Christ.

In the present crisis, you have the opportunity to show the varied and sundry ways that baptism may be administered, that it is not a rite, but a testimony to the saving work of God through Jesus Christ.

I look forward to seeing and hearing how you can make much of Christ in these times of trouble!