44: Baptism & communion

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.