Looking at the many churches today, how many different ways of baptizing do you think there are? These are the ones I have witnessed or heard about. (If you have experience with any more, please let me know.)

1. Sprinkling of infants: Practiced by Methodists, Catholics, Presbyterians, etc.
2. Immersion of infants once: Practiced by Lutherans.
3. Immersion of infants three times: Practiced by many Orthodox.
4. Immersion of adults going backwards: Practiced by Baptists, Pentecostals, Disciples of Christ, etc.
5. Immersion of adults going forwards: Church of the Brethren. In addition, they also go forward three times. I asked a Church of the Brethren pastor why they went forwards, and he replied it symbolizes bowing to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
6. Pouring (affusion): Practiced by Amish and Mennonites. (Baptists practiced this for the first 10-20 years of their existence and then switched to immersion.)
7. None: Two denominations do not practice a physical baptism: The Salvation Army and Friends (aka Quakers). They believe that Christians do not need a physical ritual to bring them closer to God; therefore, they also do not practice communion.
8. Pouring of sand: I once spoke to a missionary who worked in the Sahara Desert. He said that water was so scarce there that people poured sand on a person’s head for their baptism.



© 2024 Mark Nickens