Regarding “To Be Rebaptized?” (May 4): I was born in 1937, and my parents wanted me to be dedicated to the Lord, so I assume I was sprinkled with water in a Free Methodist Church. Later I experienced a definite conversion to Christ at age 14 and was baptized by immersion in a pond.
Fast forward to 1969, when I was pastor of the Free Methodist Church in Waynesboro, Va. At a local ministerium meeting I met Harold Stoltzfus, pastor of Springdale Mennonite, and a friendship ensued. He asked, “You don’t baptize babies, do you?” I replied, “I haven’t yet.” He invited me to join him in studies at Eastern Mennonite College. I graduated from there in 1971 and later from Eastern Mennonite Seminary.
After this, I pastored a Free Methodist Church in Maryland for 17 years. The challenge from Harold Stoltzfus stayed with me, and no babies were baptized. I compromised once when a mother insisted water be applied to her baby’s head in the dedication service. But I refused to use the word “baptize” and explained why.
When my wife and I moved to Elizabethtown, Pa., in 1989, we joined Elizabethtown Mennonite Church but were not required to be rebaptized. One Sunday evening the bishop gave an invitation to anyone wishing to be baptized. I thought, “Why not get poured, the Mennonite way?” So we did. Later I was ordained in Lancaster Mennonite Conference and have served the Cedar Hill Church since 2001.
Part of my ministry at Cedar Hill has been reaching out to inmates in prisons. A prison chaplain, a Catholic, phoned me and said, “A Protestant inmate wants to be baptized. Would you do this?” I agreed and asked if an inmate could be baptized by immersion, which is my preference. He said that would not be possible. So I agreed to come and baptize by pouring. The chaplain had bought a bottle of water at a convenience store. When the inmate saw the bottle of water, he said, “That’s not holy water.” I responded, “When that water is poured through the chaplain’s hands and my hands, it will be holy.” He received an ecumenical baptism — with water poured through the hands of a Catholic chaplain and a thrice-baptized Mennonite pastor. I have continued a meaningful relationship with this inmate.
I believe in baptism, and I believe it should follow the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.
Wayne Lawton
Elizabethtown, Pa.
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