A Conversation with Jonathan Smith about Baptisms

Mark welcomes Jonathan Smith, Director of Church Health and Growth for Texas Baptists.

Here are some highlights:

Empty seats in churches are not a bad thing, that means that there’s room for new people!
With the resurrected Christ, there is always hope for every church!
Put on display the church that you want to become.

Some principles for increasing baptisms in your church:

Preach on baptism twice a year.
Only baptize one person per week, unless they are family members.
Don’t baptize at the very beginning of the worship service.
- A significant portion of your congregation will miss the baptism if it’s at the very beginning of the service.
A 3-week baptism plan:
- Week 1 – Announce that there will be a baptism next week and provide invitations for the baptism candidate to invite friends and families.
- Week 2 – Shoot a video of the baptism candidate answering two questions: 1) How did you come to faith in Christ? 2) How did this church help you come to faith in Christ? Show this video before the baptism.
- Week 3 – Show a video of the testimony and the baptism.

Resources mentioned on this podcast:

Texas Baptists PAVE process: txb.org/pave

Published June 7, 2024