|
When an adult person wants become a Christian, the first question is:
Are you baptised or not?
· Some people may have been baptised earlier in their
life, but have then slided away from their Christian faith. The Bible
teaches that there is only one baptism, so there is no need to baptise
anybody twice. But the faith needs to be restored. Some people find their
way back to God in our services, some while reading the Bible or praying
on their own. I am available to pray with people as well.
· Then there are people who have not been baptised, but
want to become Christian now. This does not happen quickly. First you have
to learn what Christianity is all about. I tend to meet with people about
ten times for study before the baptism takes place. This way you can be
sure what you are committing yourself to. After the teaching has taken
place the new Christian in baptised in our Sunday service and welcomed to
the church as a new member. Baptism is a tool in the hand of God to give
the gift of salvation to us. With an adult it is also a testimony in front
of people, telling that you want to follow Christ.
· Often infants are baptised in our services. Not
everyone in our congregation is used to this, coming from churches where
only adults are baptised. I could write a long article in defence of
infant baptism. Anyway, it is important that children are raised in an
atmosphere of faith. If the parents prefer, the babies may be dedicated to
the Lord with a prayer in our service. We are invited to bless the
children, as our Lord did. It is important that our children have a clear
Christian identity in this secular nonbelieving environment.
· The teaching about the basics of our faith is given at
a later age for those who were baptised as infants. Usually this teaching
is given in the age of 14 or 15 in this country. This teaching is called
"confirmation class". The purpose is to lead a young person to
an understanding of her or his faith. In fact most people become believers
in this country in confirmation class. This is the greatest evangelistic
opportunity in Finland. About 90% of that age group attend the
confirmation classes in a camp during the summer time.
You are registered · Finnish society is quite carefull in
keeping data of people's address, income, even religious status. There is
a law for the church affairs and the Act of religious freedom. These laws
have been made keeping only the ordinary Finnish citizens in mind, and
seem some time not to work with international people as they should.
The law says that a baby should follow the mother's religion. The
normal case then is that the mother is Lutheran, and the baby is baptised
as an infant in the Lutheran church. If the baby is not baptised in the
due time, the baby is then registered as non-religious. If the parents are
registered as non-religious, the law prevents the baby being baptised. The
purpose of this law is to protect the child against religion.
Many of the IEC members, who have a residents permit in Finland, are
registered as non-religious. This is strange, but as the IEC is not a
legally registered church but a registered association, membership in the
IEC means nothing has no official implications for your registration. This
again means that the children of the IEC members cannot be baptised as
members of a Christian church according to the law (for instance into the
membership of the Lutheran church). But our practice has been to baptise
children Christian anyway. According to the Finnish law these children are
still registered as non-religious but we believe these babies are
registered in heaven as belonging to Christ.
Many of our youth want to be confirmed in the Lutheran church of
Finland together with their friends. If the child is not yet 15 years old
but 14, and the parents are not Lutheran, it is not possible. The youth
may attend the confirmation camp, but is not allowed to be officially
confirmed.
sildenafil citrate soft tabs
buy viagra
viagra uk
special offers dose low viagra cialis levitra |
From The Pastor's Pen 
