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Update 46 page 12.
In Update 46:
Parents hear?
Web wanderings
Dear Archbishop
Waters converge
Videos and prep
Andrewes
Of godparents
Videos and baptism preparation
Paul Cowan, curate of All Saints Wokingham, surveys the 'market'.
Here I am, less than a year into ordained life, and I'm making criticisms of the Church of England … and in print! I've tended to be a little intolerant of fellow ordinands and clergy who spend their time complaining about the Church; 'You are the Church of England' quickly comes to my mind. Well, in my own defence, I'm writing this article, not to criticise, but in the hope that it might enthuse some action. Maybe it's also a little unusual for someone who holds to an open policy on infant baptism to be writing articles for BI Update? To BI's credit they encouraged me to write this piece even after I requested the right to clarify my difference of opinion. What we hold in common though is the desire to share, to the best of our ability, the Good News and to protect the significance and integrity of baptism.
Anyway, enough introductions and disclaimers…
Let me begin with a simple question. In an era when the Church is in decline, where do we have our best opportunity of contact, dialogue and presentation of the gospel to people on the margins of the Church? Surely it is with those bringing children for baptism? There is a huge swathe of Britain's population (as recent census statistics suggest) who, although not entirely confident of their own faith, continue to value the presence and faith of the Christian Church and continue to present their children for baptism. Here lies our golden opportunity, and therefore also a great responsibility.
As I began in the parish and with all this in mind, I was rather disappointed to see that our Church was, month by month, using an early eighties video called, 'Your Child's Christening', which although good in content, is now seriously dated. Every month, the baptism preparation session begins with an apology about the aged video. Well here was a little straightforward task for me to get my teeth into; we needed an up to date video presentation about baptism.
After a good amount of research, I came up with only three options. 'Beginning the Journey' (2001), produced by Te Deum, is the supposed update of 'Your Child's Christening', but with a poorer quality in filming, and with a less coherent message. It's just under twenty minutes long, and requires the viewer to sit through much of a service and sermon. A great range of people are asked their opinions on baptism, leaving the viewer rather lost about what to believe.
Option two was 'First Steps' (2002) by CPAS. Certainly they were slicker in presentation, keeping it within ten minutes, but with a content that is centred on the conversion of the parents and the significance of the child's baptism as of secondary interest. Much of it was also presented via cartoon pictures and a narrative that verges on the patronizing, for instance: "Would you send your child on a long journey on their own?"
Third time lucky? Unfortunately not! 'Welcome to Baptism' (1999), presented by Roger Royle, is over twenty minutes long and way too rambling, sitting through a full gospel reading and recital of the creed. In all that time, we are given only one example of baptism, that of an infant, no mention of adult baptism.
I don't think I'd be that hard to please; it's just that the options are budget productions. They are generally too long, poorly filmed, and poorly produced. Too much time is spent simply filming services. Surely part of the point of a video is the opportunity to present our message in a fresh way with a modern medium that we're all at home with? 'Your Child's Christening' is, for me, still the best one in content but, as I've said, now dated. I know my comments sound rather ruthless, but it strikes me that these precious contacts with people interested in the Christian faith are being devalued by poor resource options.
Are my expectations unrealistic? Certainly not! Before ordination, I worked for a small charity of twelve staff and an annual turnover of half a million. The charity funded the production of a video, narrated by Sir Anthony Hopkins, which, although five years old now, puts our baptism video options into the shade. I therefore find it hard to believe that the Church cannot centrally work at producing modern, snappy (10-12 minutes maximum), well-presented options, narrated by high profile professionals.
Please, please, don't write offering me the use of your camcorder! This needs to be filmed, narrated and produced by the professionals. Costs would be high, but I expect there would be significant sales if it was done well, and a good amount of the costs would be recuperated. In fact, it would be even better if there were two or three variations to accommodate our various theological sensitivities … maybe this has been a good part of the problem, avoiding the baptism theology minefield?
If you know of good baptismal video presentations from the wider Anglican Communion, I'd be interested to know of them. Maybe there are at this time new, attractive, snappy productions being planned? I live in hope.
Editor's notes:
(1) We did make some attempts to find videos from the wider Anglican Church, but we found nothing to contradict what Paul says!
(2) We really welcome articles from those who dissent from our views, like Paul, and we consider him a friend of BI despite his disclaimer!
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