Attendance / Fellowship Ideas

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!” That is the phrase we have all heard to remind us of the importance of planning. Good planning is hard work, and it leads to even more hard work as we implement our plans. Paul wrote to Timothy to “do the work of the evangelist” (2 Timothy 4:5). Evangelism takes effort, but your efforts will be rewarded as you see people introduced to Jesus Christ through your Baptism Celebrationevent. Below are some step-by-step planning instructions.

Pray. In all your work, effort, and planning do not forget to pray. Prayer puts us in touch with the unfailing and never-ending resources of God. When we seek to do evangelism we are invading Satan’s territory. Prayer is necessary to overcome stumbling blocks that the Evil One will try to put in our path. Before you even begin to plan or work you should pray. All your plans and activities should be prayer-birthed, and you should pray at every step as you prepare and implement your “Celebration of Baptism” event. For more information go to Prayer Helps.
Lead people to Christ. Before you can have a baptism outreach event such as this you must have people to baptize! Go to “How to Become a Christian” for a simple explanation of how to follow Christ. Also, an excellent witness training process is available from the North American Mission Board to help you and your church identify prospects and bring them to faith in Jesus Christ. It is called “The NET.” Order it today.
Inform baptism candidates. Most baptism candidates will be newer Christians who may be unfamiliar with many issues which are basic tenants of the Christian faith. They must be taught, cultivated, and assimilated into the church. You should visit several areas of this web site to obtain information and resources to train new Christians. You can get basic but vital information for new Christians from the Follow-Up section. Frequently asked questions about baptism are answered in the Information on Baptism—Frequently Asked Questions section. Finally, a booklet/certificate of baptism may be downloaded from the Downloadable Resources are of this web site.
Choose a date. Work with baptism candidates to prayerfully choose a date for your “Celebration of Baptism” event that will be best for the church, the baptism candidates, and especially for the unchurched guests who will be invited to this event. Remember to choose your date far enough in advance to be able to promote this event and send special invitations to all of the candidate’s friends and family.
Plan the service/fellowship. Now that you’ve chosen the date it’s time to deal with the nuts-and-bolts issues of actually planning the service, preparing for the fellowship party, and putting other practical plans into place. Click on Job Descriptions to get information on the duties of the Baptism Committee. This committee takes care of all the details that relate to the actual mechanics of the baptism service, such as filling the pool (or choosing a remote place for the baptism such as a home pool, a lake, or the seashore), providing towels and robes (if used) for participants, and helping the pastor and candidates during the service itself. Actual Baptism Celebration service outlines are available by clicking here. The service comes complete with suggested orders of worship and suggested music in your choice of a contemporary, traditional, or blended format. Sermon/Teaching Helps are also available on this web site for you to use as you prepare.

Promoting your baptism event is a challenge. You have both internal (promoting to the church) and external (promoting to the community) promotion to accomplish. The Downloadable Resources section of this web site provides a wealth of material to help you to promote attendance at this event to both audiences. But promotion is not enough. Church members and baptism candidates must enlist and bring people to this event to hear about Jesus.

Besides planning the baptism service, attendance may be enhanced by having a church outreach party either before or after your event. Go to the Attract Seekers section of this website for more information and ideas on how to build attendance.
Conduct the service/fellowship. This is your opportunity to reach many people for Christ. Make your service/fellowship a well-planned, well-organized, but not too formal, event. Honor Christ and feature excellent music. The spoken word about Jesus should be concise, compelling, and crystal-clear. The baptism itself should be Christ-centered and inspirational. The invitation is vitally important, giving attendees an opportunity to immediately come into a relationship with Jesus Christ. Helps on how to give a Response Card type of invitation is available in the Draw the Net section.
Follow-up. As in any evangelistic event, follow-up is the ultimate key to success or failure. The Great Commission says “make disciples” and not just “make converts.” Click on Follow-Up for information on how to counsel new believers, assimilate them into the church, and train them in on-going discipleship to be vital, reproducing Christians.