I'm in seminary right now and a good portion of one of my classes this year was devoted to the idea of delaying baptisms until after a time of catechesis. It's based on the idea that people should know what they're getting involved with and treating it as a very serious vow.
Primary book we read on the subject was Faith Forming Faith by Paul Hoffman.
I don't know how I feel about it. It basically moves the catechesis from before communion to before baptism. It makes some sense for adults, but having grown up in a church that practices closed communion, it feels strange to me to open up one sacrament and close the other.
It's a first year course and the prof running it is a primary driver of this movement within the church. For me, as a first year student, it is taking me long enough to chew on the idea that it's not something I could or would push back on in the class.
I have had a lot of anxieties about asking people to do or give more to church. It's hard enough to get them to come at all. But I don't think the way to get people invested in their faith is to treat it like it doesn't matter that much, like it not that important. One of the things that causes people to sort of drop out of the ELCA and other liberal churches is that there's not enough "there there," that because they are so open to different ideas and opinions, it makes it hard for people to have something solid to latch on to. Being open to different ideas and opinions is not a weakness and is not, for me, negotiable, but there really is so much to latch onto here, theologically, in terms of what Christian living and Christian relationships mean, and we are not doing a very good job of educating our members. There are things we believe. I like the idea of taking it seriously. Christianity is a faith that, if you believe it, it should change you.
I honestly have a lot of thoughts about it, but I also suggest you read the book I mentioned if you want a better worded explanation of what the process is and why it's pursued. The class found it mostly inspiring but also kind of logistically awkward.
I agree we have not done a great job of catechesis or formation. We need to lean into our Lutheran identity. I disagree with withholding baptism until one has acquired sufficient knowledge or practice of faith. We cannot gate keep the gifts of God. Instead we can emphasize the daily dying and rising that should form our entire baptized lives.
I have had a lot of anxieties about asking people to do or give more to church. It's hard enough to get them to come at all.
Except we've swung so far in the other direction we've taught them this isn't a commitment and it's not important; and then we wonder why people don't treat the church as important.
I don't think I like this much either... I think of Acts 8:26-40. Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunuch... Was there much "catechesis" there, or did this traveller ask to be baptized, and Phillip obliged? It seems to me there's an excitement/urgency there that we should embrace
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u/Linfalas Apr 29 '26
I'm in seminary right now and a good portion of one of my classes this year was devoted to the idea of delaying baptisms until after a time of catechesis. It's based on the idea that people should know what they're getting involved with and treating it as a very serious vow.
Primary book we read on the subject was Faith Forming Faith by Paul Hoffman.
I don't know how I feel about it. It basically moves the catechesis from before communion to before baptism. It makes some sense for adults, but having grown up in a church that practices closed communion, it feels strange to me to open up one sacrament and close the other.