A Conversation with Jonathan Smith about Baptisms

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