Group conversion - waht to do?

[Pergamum]

Christian missions case study: Group conversion

What do you do in a situation like this? It happens.

 

[Mushroom]

Baptize 'em all and rejoice with them at this moving of God among them to bring them out of darkness into the light. Sad statement that these poor souls are more covenantal in their thinking than us 'civilized' individualists. Abraham circumsized all the males of his household.

 

[Ivan]

Has this happened to you, Pergy? Depending on the size of the group I'd still want to have some kind of conversation with each individual. Interesting situation, but not a bad one.

 

[Solus Christus]

To quote and paraphrase the all-wise words of Brody from Jaws: "You're gonna need a bigger church."

 

[Puritan Sailor]

This sort of thing has happened before in barbarian Europe as the gospel spread in the early centuries. I think the Franks were one example, if I remember right. Whole tribes would convert with their leader. They were dominated more by group thought than individualism. I think it is a marvelous display of the grace of God to convert so many all at once.

 

[moral necessity]

in my opinion, as the tribe seems to behave as a unit and a family-type of structure, and, individually, they expect it of one another, I would baptise the entire tribe. All of us are baptized upon profession of faith, and, if this group profession represents their individual profession when done so as a whole, and they are used to their individual professions being decided as such, then I would honor it as an individual profession in the context of that structural unit.

Blessings!

 

[TimV]

Baptize them and hold them accountable. The trick will be getting the optimum one Elder for every 10 families to hold them accountable.....

 

[AVT]

God saves individuals and because He is God, He can also save the whole group--He is not limited.He does as He pleases---it can happen when the whole group can grasp or understand the Gospel, for all we know they've been waiting for so long for someone to explain it to them.

 

[N. Eshelman]

It happened to Augustine (not that one) in Kent when 10,000 professed Christ and were baptized together. This brought the gospel to England to stay according to Bede!

Is a group conversion too much for us reformed folk who rarely see any conversions other than our own covenant children? Its too bad, really. We need to pray to see more baptisms by profession of faith- and I am talkin' to the paedos!

 

[Pergamum]

Has this happened to you, Pergy? Depending on the size of the group I'd still want to have some kind of conversation with each individual. Interesting situation, but not a bad one.

I am actuallly discouraging baptisms because many think that they get eternal life by it. Plus, we have had a few evangelists give out goods (clothes) after they come out out of the water (after all, now they are baptized children of God...let's give them a hand...or a handout). And so, many are drawn to baptism to be part of a move towards the outside world, goods, and the "good life" of rice and noodles instead of roots and grubs....

 

[Pergamum]

Normally I would encourage any visible show of change of allegience to Christianity, and baptism is such a show of allegience. Normally I would say, sure, if they are baptized and come in under the church, then they are more receptive to follow-up care.

But here, there are other shows of allegience as well, such as the burning of charms and the overthrow of local animistic places of worship. Cuuple this with wrong views of baptism and an assumption of salvation and sometimes one needs to oppose it as well it seems. Hard to tell.