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Church Online

Is Online Baptism “Real Baptism?”

By ⋅ March 22, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment
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Churches are using the Internet to communicate with leaders and members, to create community, to conduct worship experiences, to evangelize and disciple and … to baptize.

This YouTube video features the first online baptism for Flamingo Road Church (recently renamed Potential Church) in Fort Lauderdale, Fl.

Pastor Troy Gramling and Internet Campus Pastor Brian Vasil baptized Alyssa Eason online. She lives in Fayettteville, GA and attends the church’s Internet Campus.

Here’s another video of Pastor Rusty Hutson of Cornerstone UMC, Auburn, AL officiating in the online baptism of Cindy Wall.

Hutson was attending a conference in Granger, IN and used Skype to interact with Cindy who was in Auburn.

Internet campuses and online churches have their detractors and supports.

Some believe “There Is No Virtual Church.” Others are standing “In Defense of Virtual Church.”

Ready or not, technology is changing the world around us. Churches will have to decide what tools to incorporate into ministry.

So where does online baptism fall in these considerations? Defining the practice is a good place to begin the discussion.

The ordinance of baptism has been defined as “a ceremony instituted by the Lord for public observation and regular participation in the local assembly.”

Here’s another variation. Baptism is “an ordinance of the Lord by which those who have repented and come to faith express their union with Christ in His death and resurrection, by being immersed in water in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Romans 6:4

Baptism is a symbolic act that allows the believer to share in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. By being baptized the believer is essentially saying to the world that he identifies with what Jesus went through for him.

So we see the ceremony, the process, the spiritual meaning, and the witnesses.

In my own experience, I don’t recall ever seeing the location mentioned as an essential aspect of baptism. Many of us have probably seen or taken part in baptisms at the ocean, in a lake or swimming pool. Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River (picture of the traditional location of Christ’s baptism above).

So location aside, online baptism leaves us with the opening question. Does the “virtual” vs. “physical” nature of online baptism invalidate the experience for the believer, the participants and the Church?

One thing is certain: The Church will face questions like this with increasing regularity in a globally connected world.

Footnote: Cindy Wall passed away a few days after her online baptism. A friend of hers wrote a tribute to Cindy.

Question: If participants embrace the broadly held biblical positions on the Church ordinance, is online baptism a legitimate practice? Why or why not?

  • Lynne Chapman

    While I have many Christian friends online and we are the body, I think that we each need a physical church close at hand. We need that kind of fellowship and to be active in the body of Christ. So unless one is in the wilderness with no other Christian around, I'm not a fan of online church.____I do think this woman had a real baptism – just not a preferable one.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/GordonMarcy GordonMarcy

      Good insights Lynne.

      On FRC's blog, someone also asked about whether a local church and pastor could have baptized Alyssa and why she didn't attend a local church in her community.

      Pastor Vasil acknowledged the presence of local churches, but added, "Alyssa is a member of our Internet Campus. She attends faithfully, connects with others via chat during services, and considers the Internet Campus her church home. She chose to take this public step of obedience in the place where she found and connects with God each weekend."

      Physically connecting with a local community of believers is vital to all aspects of spiritual development. The Church Without Walls is pushing an exploration of new methods though.

      As individuals and church leaders discuss and pray on these things I believe God will provide an understanding of what is, as you rightly said, "preferable."

  • http://www.certified-comfort.com Rob B

    Looks like a baptism to me — immersion by a believer preceded by a confession of faith.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/GordonMarcy GordonMarcy

      Thanks for commenting Rob.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/DaveBourgeois Dave Bourgeois

    I have been thinking about this topic for some time… There are no easy answers. When I discussed this in my Internet Ministry class last spring, we had an interesting discussion around this topic with Matt Anderson. He said: "what you save them with is what you save them to" – meaning that if someone is saved via online church, they will see it as the "best" version of church and will not seek to go further. Yet at the same time, so much good is being done via online church that I am not ready to dismiss it.

    Dave

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/GordonMarcy GordonMarcy

    RE: "So much good is being done via online church"

    Some are saying "the world connected – by 2015."

    Seemed far fetched until I read that the number of mobile Internet users in China will be approximately 1.3 billion by 2014. And India, (pop 1.2 billion), has embarked on an ambitious scheme to provide ALL of its 630,000 villages, no matter how remote, with broadband internet access by May 2012.

    This is a unique moment in history for the church, including the online church. Are there risks to committing resources to online evangelism and ministry? Sure. But I wonder, where will the church be able to best help shape the outcome of these things? On the sidelines? Or, in the game?

    Thanks for posting your thoughts Dave and for bringing important topics like this to the classroom.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/PaulSteinbrueck PaulSteinbrueck

    Gordon, we discussed online baptism and online communion together as one of the nine part series we did about online church. Hope you don't mind if I post a link in order to connect these two conversations:

    http://blog.ourchurch.com/2009/12/08/online-churc…

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/GordonMarcy GordonMarcy

    Don't mind at all. Activated links to make connecting to your conversation easier.

    Look forward to checking out the series you did.

  • steve

    that was not a proper baptism baptism must be in the name of Jesus Christ and fully under the water acts 2.38 8.16 19.5 10.38 you wet sinners

  • mendeleyev

    Comment part 1: Its rare for me to enter a religious discussion but I'd like to offer a view from the other side of the fence. As someone from a non-evangelical Christian tradition, such practices strike me as odd and my fear is that online experiences may tend to further individualize the Christian experience into something apart from fellowship, accountability, and discipline from the church. A person is baptised into a relationship, not just with God, but with a living and interactive experience with other Christian believers. In the words of Christ himself, he came to build the church, not a group of casually/socially connected individuals. The types of baptism practiced among the people of the Old Testament as well as the people who belonged to pagan religions generally were connected to the idea of entering into a new way of life, a repentance of sorts, and for pagans who practiced baptism it was a means of moral conversion. Even John's baptism was a prelude of how baptism would be implemented by the Church.

    • mendeleyev

      Comment part 2: The Christian adaptation of baptism is much more specific–it is the act of a person's death and resurrection in and with the sinless Christ and thus represents man's participation in the event of Easter, via God's grace. It is a "new birth by water and the Holy Spirit" into the Kingdom of God (Jn 3:5) as the baptized person dies to this world and is born again in the resurrection of Christ into eternal life. He is clothed with the "garments of salvation" as often symbolized in the ancient church by white baptismal robes which represented the "new humanity" of Jesus himself who is the new and heavenly Adam (See Jn 3, Rom 5, 1 Cor 15).

      Personally I find a form of online baptism as a sad commentary on a modern segment of the church attempting to "dumb down" the expressions of faith, in never ending attempts to make the message more "relevant" to the point where it is no longer recognizable, nor truly Christian.

  • Joe Davis

    A dry baptism is like a ______________ (fill in the blanks).

    • http://www.gordonmarcy.com GordonMarcy

      Thanks for stopping by Joe, and I agree. Water is certainly an essential element in baptism, along with obedience to the Word on the part of the participants, and the testimony to everyone.

      That these elements appeared to be present in the two video examples has been a central part of the debate.

      What both sides seem to be wrestling with is, if the essential elements are present, and if the reasons for getting baptized are right, then does the location (pool or tub) or environment (online) affect the biblical legitimacy of the event?

      In any case, there's thousands of additional witnesses looking in on the permanent testimony of Alyssa's and Cindy's testimony, discussing the meaning of it all. Another dimension, I suppose, to church online in the digital age.

Random Quote

God has often used technological advancement to spread the Gospel through the church. At the time of Paul it was the Roman’s system of roads. For the Reformers it was the printing press. For Billy Graham it was sound amplification systems and stadiums. For Mars Hill Church, we have been blessed to have the opportunity to use the advances in video and internet distribution. — Mark Driscoll

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