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Update 50 page 1.

Fifty issues, fifty years

John Hartley, editor
 

Next year I shall be fifty. Time for reflection, but not relaxation.

The bible doesn’t promise anyone a gentle wind-down into retirement. On the contrary, Abraham was called up to new things at a great age, and Paul was constantly making fresh efforts in adverse circumstances.

And that’s my expectation for BI. As we reach issue 50 of our newsletter we have been campaigning since 1987, but we inherited the concerns of the “Baptismal Reform Movement” which go back to 1947. Should we expect to be on the verge of achieving reform and sitting back? Not if the scriptures are any guide.

So what ebbs and flows have we seen over these 58 years?

Since 1947 the Church has realized that baptism needs to indicate commitment and participation in the life of Christ in the local Church - no longer is it just a private ceremony for family and close friends.

Believers’ baptism has become “normative” for our liturgy, in the sense that the service for adults comes first and the service for infants is derived from it (instead of vice-versa). It’s not yet “normal” to see adult baptisms, but it’s a lot more normal than it used to be.

The 1971 ‘Fisher Report’ called for all baptisms to take place in main services: our church now openly says this. It called for the offer of Thanksgivings for all, and although emphases vary (p6-8 of this issue) we are some way to seeing this happen. (It also called for children to become communicant younger - hence p12-14.)

There has been the great advance of the ASB’s introduction, setting out terms on which children are baptized. But then also the retreat of CW’s downgrading of these to a prayer instead of a statement of commitment by parents.

There has been the Lima (BEM) call to paedobaptist churches to provide opportunities for public commitment - but then the mixed message of baptism being “full sacramental initiation”, which still threatens to undermine the place of confirmation.

The 1980's saw several of our members active in General Synod which brought the need for "discipline" to the nation’s awareness - we made the dailies and TV! But the outcome was disappointing with Synod’s unwillingness to implement the "willing and able" clause. And our motion calling attention to the Lima statement on discipline and calling for action ended up in a half-baked compromise report that got us nowhere new

So we have seen a lot of movement, both positive and negative. A lot is still going on, and there’s a lot for us to keep working at.

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This web page was last updated on 22nd January 2006.