Converge church planting leaders Lee Stephenson and Danny Parmelee discuss baptism and communion. How can you incorporate and maximize these moments in the life of your church plant?
Converge church planting leaders Lee Stephenson and Danny Parmelee discuss baptism and communion. How can you incorporate and maximize these moments in the life of your church plant?
1:05 Danny’s church plant had baptism services even before it launched for people who came to Christ during the launch team phase.
2:03 Danny’s church celebrated baptisms in the waters of Lake Michigan, which meant it could only baptize people during the summertime.
3:01 Danny talks about the positive and negative aspects of doing outdoor baptisms on a Saturday. He says the church eventually started doing baptisms in the service, as well.
4:02 When Lee’s first church plant started, it did baptisms on Sunday night at a pool.
4:27 Lee found that including baptisms in the Sunday worship experience was very powerful.
4:49 Lee decided to make the entire day about baptism, including the teaching time. Those baptism services "were our best services of the year."
6:30 Danny required people to have a written testimony, which the church approved ahead of time.
7:33 When lots of people were baptized at one time, Danny’s church showed a video of shortened versions of their testimonies.
7:55 Lee says everyone baptized at his church recorded a video testimony, but not all of the testimonies were used in the service.
8:16 After the testimonies video was shown, Lee invited people to trust Jesus or get baptized.
9:31 Danny’s church provided people with baptism T-shirts.
9:54 The conversation turns to communion.
10:25 Danny’s church celebrated communion once a month.
10:58 Danny’s church practiced intinction, receiving communion by dipping the bread into the cup.
12:24 Danny always gave a clear gospel presentation and invitation before communion and reminded people that communion is for believers.
13:17 When Lee’s first church plant started, it celebrated communion as a separate service on Sunday evenings.
14:30 His church eventually moved communion to Sunday mornings, once a month.
14:46 Lee advises planters on what to say to nonbelievers in the room.
15:50 Danny and Lee share their thoughts on celebrating communion in a small group setting.
16:32 Danny talks about inviting a second person to participate in a baptism.
17:56 Some of Lee’s favorite baptism memories are of baptizing multiple family members at the same time.