A Study on Baptism
Prof. M.M.Ninan

Chapter Ten

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF BAPTISM

And

REDISCOVERY OF GREAT COMMISSION

Every ritual within any religion has always two components. There is an ongoing evolution of the form of the ritual as the culture changes. The images and the symbolic meanings change with the variations in culture, language, social setup, political set up etc. There are also the changes in the understanding of the symbol and ritual in terms of faith.

The same is true regarding baptism. There had been changes in the modes of baptism from pre-Christian period to the twenty-first century. There also had been changes in the understanding of what the ritual stands for and in the prophetic interpretation of the symbol in spiritual level and its interpretation in terms of contemporary understanding of God, justification, sanctification, nature of man, redemption etc.,

Rituals were normal part all religions. It has been always a way of living. In fact all religions try to penetrate deep into the daily living, giving it a meaning beyond the mundane. Temples were always the center of the community. It ought to be. Daily ablutionary rites were common among all religions. The author of Hebrews refers to these as Doctrines of baptisms, which according to the writer were prophetic indications of redemption through Christ. Bodily cleanliness is indicative of spiritual cleanliness. It is a symbol. God must be approached with a clean body. Hence baths ritualized as baptisms were ordained. A direct equivalence can be found between the Hebrew and Hindu ablutions and its relation to worship.

These ablutions were always taken to change the status of a person from unclean to clean or from impure to pure. Thus priests in all religions took elaborate baths and made prayers before entering the sanctum. Even common people followed similar ritual baths before going to worship. Worshipping with wet clothes or in water up to their waist came be a form of repentance and prayachitta – penitence. Quaran speaks of Eve standing in the river with water upto her waist for days in repentance for her disobedience. The tradition can be found still among the Hindu women. It has remained with Christians in added vigor with "Sunday best".

Initiation into the religion of the fathers was always performed within the first few days.

Initiation expresses what the community believes about its identity and sense of belonging. To comprehend the meaning of initiation rites of a given historical period, the faith understanding of that period must be examined. History provides the facts; theology interprets those facts with a faith understanding. Therefore, this overview will present the historical development of the rite of baptism as well as the Church's faith understanding about that sacrament.

Every religious ritual has three dimensions.

The mundane material dimension is the actual external rite.

Then we have the spiritual dimension, which is not visible, but is assumed to be the more real act. The material is the reflection or image of the spiritual.

Then we have the ultimate fulfillment of the ritual, where the physical and spiritual meet and becomes the reality.

When we emphasize one interpretation over the other, we get confused over what the ritual actually is and what it means. Let us make sure that these do not mix. They are distinct from each other, yet one in essence.

Baptism has these dimensions:

* Physical: The physical immersion, washing, sprinkling or pouring of water.

** Spiritual: Repentance, New Birth – Born in the Spirit, Purification, Baptism with the Holy Spirit.

** Final Fulfillment: Resurrection of the Body, recreated in the image of God.

The spiritual follows the Physical and then comes the fulfillment.

1 Cor 15: 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

The Jewish practice of circumcision and water baptism was the established initiation rites expressing incorporation and purification. Circumcision was the means of initiation into Old Covenant. Cutting the flesh was not a new method of initiation. Tribes in Africa still cut their faces to produce a scar, which distinguish one tribe from the other. This was indeed important during the war. How will they know friends from the foes? Circumcision however was unique in that it cannot be seen unless a person is undressed indicating that the circumcision is of the heart. This was what Moses and the prophets emphasized.

Moses said Deut. 30: 6 The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.

Jer. 4: 3 This is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem: "Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns. 4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, circumcise your hearts,

Rom. 2: 29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God.

Closely associated with baptism was Anointing with Oil. This was also a means of consecration as water baptism was. Anointing with oil was used for consecration of priests as in:

Ex. 29: 5 Take the garments and dress Aaron with the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod itself and the breastpiece. Fasten the ephod on him by its skillfully woven waistband.

6 Put the turban on his head and attach the sacred diadem to the turban.

7 Take the anointing oil and anoint him by pouring it on his head.

8 Bring his sons and dress them in tunics

9. and put headbands on them. Then tie sashes on Aaron and his sons. The priesthood is theirs by a lasting ordinance. In this way you shall ordain Aaron and his sons.

For the consecration of kings as in:

Anointing of David by Samuel:

1 Sam 16:12Then the LORD said, "Rise and anoint him; he is the one."

13. So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power.

Anointing of Nimshi by Elijah:

1 Ki. 19: 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet.

2 Ki 9: 6 Jehu got up and went into the house. Then the prophet (Elisha) poured the oil on Jehu's head and declared, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I anoint you king over the Lord's people Israel.

The above verse also indicates that anointing with oil was also used in the consecration of Prophets.

The traditional way of anointing with oil was pouring oil from a Ram Horn over the head of the anointed so that it flowed from his head all over as a covering like a raiment.

By the time of exodus proselytes were given the baptism by allowing the catechumen enter into a large gathering of water (mikvah) to the level of his naval. Some modern Jewish groups insists on baptism by squatting preliminary to the circumcision. In this ritual, the proselyte was asked to enter a flowing stream of water and squat down and immerse himself with his eye lids fluttering and fingers and toes twisting concentrating on God. This was witnessed by at least two elders who vouched for the proper baptism ritual. The catechumen is then considered as newly born and is given the circumcision after eight days.

In the Essene Way, baptism was a central concept in terms of holiness. They were essentially a Yvhist cult. They looked forward to the coming of the Righteous one and foretold prophetically about the suffering and crucifixion of the messiah. I assume that this has caused a change in the ritual of baptism as practiced by the Essenes – at least in certain groups of Essenes. Their baptism was not by immersion. The catechumen entered the flowing water to waist deep and another person poured water over him and took him as his disciple. This is was an anointing or consecration into discipleship. The method therefore combined both the water baptism as well as anointing. They were entering into a new community where each one was a priest, prophet and a king. The water represented the repentance and pouring represented new clothing. There is strong evidence that John the Baptist and Jesus were involved in this group. John’s baptism therefore followed this method. This is certainly relevant because John’s message was that the "Kingdom of God is at hand". He was making way for the messiah and his baptism therefore followed the traditional Essenic ritual. John the Baptist introduced from Judaic and Essenic traditions, the baptism of repentance leading to the forgiveness of sins and preparation for the coming messianic age. This he did by disciplining them and teaching them. The modern disciples of John, the Mandaens follow this mode of baptism. They also follow rigid ablutionary practices as of the Pharisees. It is probable that there were other sects within the Essenic tradition with other forms of baptism. It would be presumptive to assert that there was only one scriptural form. Early church must have borrowed freely from these forms. They probably did not give much thought about the "legality of the mode".

When Jesus appeared before John, the baptism took the meaning of anointing to be prophet, priest and king to fulfil the mosaic regulation – to fulfil all righteousness. Jesus was indeed a prophet, a priest and the rightful heir to the throne of David. So the baptism was the legal consecration of these positions. There was this element of forgiveness of sin, which bothers many Christians when it comes to Jesus. We need to differentiate between personal sins and sins that we bear for being in the society. Every member of the human society bears the responsibility of all evil that perpetuates in human society. Jesus was bore this as a human and carried this to the cross. It was the struggle against these that led Jesus to the Cross. Every Christian is expected to bear this cross unto death.

Jesus used the word baptism only in reference to his suffering, death and resurrection. Baptism for Jesus meant Cross-. Any Christian baptism that does not bear this symbolism is not real baptism as seen by Jesus. Christian baptism is also a statement of resurrection and newness of life, clothing with righteousness etc. The early Church used baptism to express one's faith conversion and rebirth-recreation into the Body of Christ.

During the initial Apostolic Period, greater emphasis was placed on adult conversion/initiation. But Jewish regulations did agree to the conversion of the infants and minors even without their consent by proper immersion. The concept was that minors are brought up within the faith of the head of the family. They were permitted to repudiate it when they reach the age of maturity, which were 13 in the Jewish tradition. Religion was always a matter of family and not individual. Deities were always family deities – Kula Daivam. In fact the Yahvite tradition was that God was the God of Israel, not of the individuals, not even of families. We see this picture in the story of Jacob and Laban. Rachel stole the family idols. Each family in the period judges had their own Puja rooms with their own pujarees – either of Levitical tribe or elsewhere. Individuals can choose to go to a specific god for specific purposes. These are Sadhanas, personal choices for special specific reasons. By the time of Jesus these idols and personal deities were angels. The book of Hebrews takes up the matter and shows how Jesus is much greater than angel.

The concept of what is the unit of mankind has undergone drastic change. These old concepts still linger in our thoughts and actions. The early unit was the nation. People still think of a nation as Hindu, Christian or Muslim. Early in history only one religion was permitted within the nation. All those who disagreed over their god were considered as lower class. They were taxed heavily or treated as servants and slaves. The normal laws governing the nation will not be binding on them. The vestige of this can be seen in most Islamic nations today. Old Testament also bears testimony to this difference. As an example a Hebrew brother will get his freedom from slavery after serving seven years while others do not. Hence when God ordered Israel to take possession of the land they were told to destroy all local people. One Empire, One Faith was the theme of Roman Empire Later the unit became the tribes. Later it became the household. The household included husband wife, but any parents, children and their families and slaves and their families. The disintegration of the household led to the nuclear family units including only the husband, wife and children who are not married. Further disintegration during this generation has limited it to couples or even to individuals. When the head of the unit accepts a religion, it was normally considered the religion of the unit as a whole. Yvh was the God of Israel the whole twelve tribes of Israel. If any man married outside of Israel the girl left her religion and took up the religion of the husband. The problem of inter religious marriage is still the same. This unit of society concept is reflected in baptism also. In the early church, when the head of the household was converted to Christian faith, the entire household was baptized. The whole family was later given instruction into the faith and was confirmed. Although all members of the household were baptized, not all were given the full membership of the Church. Only those who were confirmed was given the privilege of joining the table or could take up offices. Whatever be the controversy about baptism be it was always understood that confirmation was by the lying on of hands. As society became fragmented because of individualism, the unit became individuals. Even within a marriage, it is not unusual to find the husband and wife practicing totally different religions. This was never acceptable within the household norm. It was the usual practice in all countries to excommunicate such people from the society. In Islamic nations this is still practiced. In fact they were tried as heretics and executed appropriately. During the reformation period both the Catholic and the Protestant Churches did the same thing.

Early Church living in the period when "household was the unit", invariably used the household as their unit and baptized the entire household as is reported in the Acts of Apostles. Wrangling over whether they contained infants or not is just splitting hair over the issue. Even in places where it is not mentioned explicitly it is understood as such in context. This is because the early church understood baptism not as a rite of full membership but as an initiation.

This was supported by the concept that this was the New Covenant, which was the spiritual part of the Old Covenant. Just as Old Covenant symbol of circumcision was given to the entire household, the symbol of New Covenant also was given to the entire household.

Acts of Apostles do not give us any instance where the catechumens were given any period of instruction apart from the first message of salvation. However during the later period a short period of preparation was probably introduced to avoid infiltration of spies into the Church during the intense persecution period that followed. By the time of Hippolytus (c. AD 170-236) an elaborate system of probation for catechumens had been invented, as expressed in the Apostolic Tradition [Latin edition by E. Hauler, Leipzig, 1900], Gregory Dix, ed., (London: SPCK, 1937).

Full membership was conferred at all times by the laying on of hands after the Church was sure of the standing of the individual. Even today our liturgy reflects this aspect. The first part of the Sunday worship (today called the First Part: `Liturgy of the Word') was open to all. It starts with adoration, prayers, supplications, reading of the Word and ends with offering and the Ministry of the Word. Following this portion of the service they were dismissed while fully initiated members remained to celebrate the Eucharist.

As for the formal form of baptism, early Jewish Christians must have simply continued the baptism, which the Apostles were giving during the ministry of Jesus before the cross and resurrection. That is the only way we can understand the casual order of Great commission. Jesus never instituted baptism. Jesus himself followed the John’s mode of disciplining and we see a direct comparison between the two in John’s gospel. We are told that Jesus was baptizing more disciples than John. The number of disciples was the only difference. Initially the Way was restricted to Jews and therefore they already had the circumcision. When the gentiles joined the Way, the question arose whether they were to have circumcision and water baptism. Since Christianity was considered as Jewish cult, early Christians demanded the gentiles to become Jews and then receive the baptism into the way. Hence we should suppose that the baptism given was identical in nature to conversion baptism or variation in accordance with messianic perspective. It was at the council of Jerusalem the Christian community came to the realization that the church was universal and the Way was not just another Jewish cult. Baptism took a new meaning. It would be a simplification to say that baptism was always performed in exactly same way because now both the Jewish traditions, Essene traditions and the gentile traditions contributed to the forms. I should expect that different modes were used appropriate to the occasion. The Way was not ritualistic. "For freedom Christ has set you free" was the constant reminder and its corresponding inner transformations and experience replaced the outward rituals. The flesh was of no avail. I should expect that baptism was performed, standing, squatting, immersing, pouring, sprinkling or even without water with hand. The mode was secondary. However it is unlikely that immersing backward was ever employed in any baptism – Christian, Jewish or Gentile. – until the 1500s. Making disciples was the purpose. Whether they were washed then or later did not really matter.

But as the Church became the official religion of Rome and institutionalized, the leaders became powerful, rituals returned and insistence of form without content began to return. Baptism became the fashion of the period. The few who opposed were forced into it because that was the religion of the Empire. Baptism by total immersion became popular during this period. Historical records indicate that hundreds of citizens were marched into rivers and baptized in Rome. About AD 300 the whole kingdom of Armenia became Christian under King Tiridates III. In AD 486 King Clovis of the Franks was baptized along with three thousand of his soldiers. A hundred years later St. Augustine and his monks baptized King Ethelbert of Kent together with thousand of Saxons. In AD 955 five thousand Magyars of Hungary were baptized and the country became Christian, under King Stephen. Then came Poland became Christian under Prince Mieczyslaw and Russia under Emperor Vladimir. In the eleventh century King Olave of Norway was baptized and that country became Christian. That is how Christianity became the major religion of Europe. In Africa and India, the process was similar. Acta Thoma presents the story of St.Thomas in the courts of Kings and Perumals and was essentially directed to the families the Brahmin teachers called Namboothiris. First Malabar church consisted of seven and half units of Church with ten families per unit along with the migrant Jewish families of Cochin. The first Bishop was Prince Peter of the Jewish settlement. After the initial baptism Thomas left for North India and returned to complete his disciplining.

Baptizing the infants as part of the household prevailed from the early church period. This was the Jewish tradition. Talmud specifically mentions the justification of child conversion baptism as beneficiary to the covenant. Baptism was never considered as anything other than an initiation into discipleship as the Great Commission suggested. The major impetus of infant baptism grew out of a response to a fifth century theological controversy. Against a growing heresy that Adam's sin had no consequence on the rest of humankind, St. Augustine emphasized the transmission of original sin through inheritance. Infant baptism was emphasized as a means of washing away the original sin inherited from Adam. It was the impact of Augustine's theology that initiated the view of baptism as the sacrament for the forgiveness of original sin rather than incorporation into the Body of Christ. Certainly a better theological justification for infant baptism was articulated by St. John Chrysostom in the fourth century: "...in baptism they (infants) are given justice and inheritance of the grace to be members of Christ and dwellings of the Holy Spirit."

He argued that although infants were not capable of a personal faith, the faith of the Church supplied it for them. Theology continued to strongly emphasize that the sacrament removed the stain of original sin. By the fifteenth century baptism was defined as the sacrament "through which an infant is rescued from the devil's power and adopted as God's child." The theology thus complicated the simple act of infant baptism into a magic and mystery.

Reformation and Revival

The period from 426 A.D. to 1628 A.D. is called the "Dark Ages."

With the establishment of the Roman Catholic Church a bloody persecution began. All those who dissented even slightly from the official Magestirium were hunted and hounded to the utmost limit and annihilated. Very often honest preachers were given a bad name and stoned. An estimated fifty million Christians were killed as heretics.

The Inquisition was instituted by Pope Innocent lII and was perfected under Pope Gregory IX. Inquisition was a "Church Court" established by the popes for the trying and punishing of "heretics" ... a heretic being anyone who did not agree with Roman Catholicism. The conditions within the Catholic Church had become so corrupt that many voices were raised within the church in protest. Among these voices were that of John Wycliffe (1320- 1384), John Huss (1373-1415), Savonarola (1452-1498), Zwingli (1484-1531), John Knox (1505-1572), John Calvin (1509-1564), Martin Luther, (1483 to 1546 ) and George Fox, (1624 to 1691) . The combined effort of these men, along with many others, brought about the Reformation. A small group of earnest young believers said that reformations of Luther and Zwingli had not gone far enough. Conrad Grebel led this group in an attempt to emulate New Testament Christianity. They baptized one another and verbalized their faith in Jesus Christ at Zurich, Switzerland, in January 1525. This unleashed the Protestant Inquisition, which used the same techniques subtle tortures against those who disagreed with them. But the group nicknamed Anabaptists – the rebaptisers, because they baptized those who were baptized earlier as infants - remained in spite of the persecution – as a small group. Initially, the Anabaptists used sprinkling and pouring as their mode of baptism, but insisted on adult believer’s baptism on public confession of faith. Given the feudal nature of the society the movement did not spread fast. Their number increased only by salvaging the children. It is not sure when the practice of total immersion in backward position was instituted. This must have been a later development.

Most of the Anabaptists successors became the Mennonites, Amish and Quakers.

The line of churches, which called themselves Baptist, began in 1610 in Holland. It began with a man named John Smyth who was a bishop in the Church of England. In 1606, after nine months of soul searching and study of the New Testament he was convinced that the doctrines and practices of the Church of England were not Biblical, and thus he resigned his position as priest and left the church. John Smyth had to flee England. In Amsterdam, he along with Thomas Helwys and thirty-six others formed the first Baptist church of Englishmen. They stood for baptism of believers only and considered infant baptism as outright devilish. . He believed apostolic succession had been lost and the only way to recover was to start again. So he baptized himself and then the others of his congregation. As time passed Smyth began changing his position on details of form of worship and procedures. First, Smyth insisted that true worship was from the heart and that any form of reading from a book in worship was an invention of sinful man. Prayer, singing and preaching had to be completely spontaneous. He went so far with this mentality that he would not even allow the reading of the Bible during worship. Smyth died in 1612. A few of his followers Helwy, Thomas and Murton returned to England and started the First Baptist Church. Those who remained in Holland joined the Mennonites. The Baptist churches formed in England were of Arminian in theology. Opposing this theology another church called Particular Baptist Church came into existence around 1616 with Calvinistic persuasion.

About this time the Puritans were also becoming strong in England. The discovery of America opened up new possibilities of freedom for those who were dissenters and who were persecuted. This was the beginning of a new era of individualism. . Puritans and Baptists alike, in order to escape persecution, migrated to the New World.

The Puritan Congregational Churches persecuted the Baptists in America until the U.S. Constitution, which provided freedom of religion, was passed in 1787.

America and Individualistic Sects.

The new freedom found in the America and Australia became the breeding grounds for new experiences, experiments. Gnostic religions and other Eastern influences greatly encouraged these experiments. The emphasis was that Christian experience is strictly personal and there has to be new second birth experience and a new second and probably a third blessing. The Corinthian phenomena were considered the ideal. From these individualistic theology came the next wave of Pentecostalism and charismatic groups.

The modern Pentecostal movement had its origins in Topeka, Kansas, in a small Bible school conducted by Charles Fox Parham, a holiness evangelist who began his ministry as a Methodist pastor. In 1901, Agnes Ozman, a student at Parham's school, received the baptism in the Holy Spirit accompanied by speaking in tongues. This experience soon appeared all over the world in unconnected places almost the same time. The Pentecostal movement received worldwide influence in 1906 in Los Angeles, California, in the Azusa Street revival led by the African-American holiness evangelist William Joseph Seymour. From Azusa Street, the Pentecostal experience spread around the world. The emphasis of the Pentecostalism was not water baptism, but baptism with the Holy Spirit, which was, considered another event. By now the immersion baptism symbolizing death and burial of the person became standard for all new churches. This is indeed the correct understanding of faith in modern terms. Cross no longer reminds anyone of suffering or death. How can it represent death when the cross on the necks of bishops and kings represented power and authority? Surrendering oneself into the hands of others to be drowned is the correct image of dying to self in this society.

However the Pentecostal movement soon gave rise to divisiveness, fraud and was influence of Gnostic occult mysticism. This is inevitable in an individualistic self-centered society. The movement itself was centered on persons. Parham himself was involved in racism, authoritarianism, and sexual scandal. Classical Pentecostal Movement continued to proliferate at an amazing rate. Large number of independent and indigenous churches began to rise all over the world with varying doctrinal stand. Then came the penetration of Pentecostalism into the mainline Protestant and Catholic churches as "charismatic renewal" movements with the aim of renewing and reviving the historic churches. These movements were powerful enough that the main line churches could not neglect them. They were therefore internalized.

"Neo-Pentecostal" movement followed close on line in 1960 in Van Nuys, California under the ministry of Dennis Bennett, Rector of St. Marks Episcopal (Anglican) Church. The influence of movement caught up even the traditional churches. Many Protestant and Orthodox Churches around the world, including the Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement had its beginnings in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1967 among students and faculty of DuQuesne University. "Third Wave" of the Spirit which originated at Fuller Theological Seminary in 1981 under the classroom ministry of John Wimber. These consisted of mainline Evangelicals who moved in signs and wonders.

Essentially, these movements gave a new revival to Christianity because of the visual impact it gave. The intensification rite of the church, which until now has been restricted to the reading and exposition of the Word of God and to the breaking of the bread was not considered sufficient. New and astounding modes of intensification’s and daily signs and wonders and miracles were expected to be normal. Strange experiences were always fascinating and a large crowd followed such Simon Magnus performance. Speaking in tongues became old fashioned and Holy Laughter became the new style. The believer was expected to be slain in the spirit and returned with vigor at least once a week. The effectiveness of the new forms of experiences was in their performance factor. As a revivalist techniques these were effective. But one cannot give shock treatment every day to a patient and expect them to live a normal life. This is what is actually happening in many groups as pointed out by Hank Hanegraft "Christianity in Crisis:

The question therefore is what is relevant to the current society where we live in? Old norms of tribes, communities, families etc are no longer valid. Families are broken and are scattered all over the world. No one takes responsibility for other even within the family. Legally this is not possible. You cannot discipline your own child. Therefore we have become individualistic. Adult baptism is therefore a relevant alternative or the only alternative within the capitalistic society. Majorities of the people of our western world are no longer Christian in any sense. If they have been baptized as babies, they have never been taught. As children, they have not been to Sunday school. They never had any Bible teaching and prayer at home. They have had no experience of Worship. To be a Christian is understood only in negative terms - giving up of good things, living up to impossible standards, assenting to incomprehensible ideas, and partaking in rituals. It is not surprising that the Pentecostalism started with its emphasis on personal salvation apart from community, in America. This is not believer’s baptism

It is simply that this generation have the chance of hearing the gospel and have a chance to make a choice to learn about Jesus only as an adult. If early church was any guide, we should baptize these seekers immediately and make them disciples.

People Movement and Missionary dilemma.

The experience of missions in the third world countries where there is communal coherence and strong family ties belied the missionaries. The mission compound strategy of the missionaries was t encamp in an alien society and live as alien Christians failed miserably. The individualistic salvation brought in only the rejects and rebellious of the society into Christianity. Thus Christianity remained a foreign religion with little relevance to them. Those of us who have lived and worked in other cultures and who have tried evangelism have soon to discover the wisdom of the Great commission calling for disciplining through baptism and teaching. Thus came the mass movement or peoples movement.

In 1933 Bishop J. W. Pickett of the Methodist Church published his Christian Mass Movements in India Bishop Pickett pin pointed that virtually large growth of the churches in India had been through mass conversions. A mass movement at that time was defined as a movement which eventually resulted in the turning of a large proportion of the members of a certain caste to become Christians. Later the term "mass movement" was changed to "group movement" and "people movement". Extensive studies in these directions are being done. It began in 1955 when India missionary Donald McGavran published The bridges of God. Later, McGavran established the chair of church growth at the School of World Missions at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Cal. In 1981, Peter Wagner replaced McGavran at Fuller Seminary. Strangely enough it was the Mennonites who triggerred this change in understanding. The word "people" is defined, not in racial or national terms, but by identifying them as communities who do not usually marry outside their own grouping. This makes it possible to use one term for a typical early European or modern African tribe, or a caste scattered among many other people over a large part of India, or a clan, or clannish group of people, within a nation or city. If there had been a church growth through missionary efforts in Africa and Asia, this was through people’s movement, which contradicts basically with believer’s baptism and personal conversion. Even when personal conversion is assumed these were never based on perennial conviction. Masai’s of Kenya and Nagas of India are typical of these. It was the disciplining and teaching that followed baptism that made the difference and not the personal motives of the people themselves. T o engage in individual examination on all members and then selecting the ones that pass the test (what ever that test may be) will be fragmenting and nullifying any missiological thrust. The social solidarity cohesiveness will work against the teaching process. People groups and cultures evolve over time in terms of values, customs and influences. That is the way Christian faith should establish in human culture.

What is relevant in America is not relevant in other cultures. Even in America it differs from place to place. The form of baptism is not relevant at all. That is not an eternal principle. What is temporal undergoes changes, what is permanent is what we need to concentrate upon.

Mat 28: 19-20 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."