Season 1 · Episode 139
A Conversation with Jonathan Smith about Baptisms
Revitalize and Replant · North American Mission Board
June 7, 2024
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Show Notes
Mark welcomes Jonathan Smith, Director of Church Health and Growth for Texas Baptists.
Here are some highlights:
- Empty seats in churches are not a bad thing, that means that there’s room for new people!
- With the resurrected Christ, there is always hope for every church!
- Put on display the church that you want to become.
Some principles for increasing baptisms in your church:
- Preach on baptism twice a year.
- Only baptize one person per week, unless they are family members.
- Don’t baptize at the very beginning of the worship service.
- A significant portion of your congregation will miss the baptism if it’s at the very beginning of the service.
- A 3-week baptism plan:
- Week 1 – Announce that there will be a baptism next week and provide invitations for the baptism candidate to invite friends and families.
- Week 2 – Shoot a video of the baptism candidate answering two questions: 1) How did you come to faith in Christ? 2) How did this church help you come to faith in Christ? Show this video before the baptism.
- Week 3 – Show a video of the testimony and the baptism.
Resources mentioned on this podcast:
Texas Baptists PAVE process: txb.org/pave