Outdoor event event combined was with the spirituality found in nature’s setting
Bethel Mennonite Church of Mountain Lake experienced an outdoor baptism at Mountain Lake of three young candidates this past Sunday morning, June 12. The decision to hold a lake baptism allowed for the baptismal immersion to be combined with the spirituality found in nature’s setting.
Church congregants gathered beneath a tent at the shore of Mountain Lake, near the boat landing, to celebrate the baptism of Danielle Joleen Duerksen, daughter of Troy and Dixie Duerksen and Katherine Ann Hofmann and Victoria Kay Hofmann, daughters of Perry and Cheryl Hofmann, as well as the infant dedication of Theodore Andrew Nickel, son of Andy and Sara Nickel of Mountain Lake. Pastor Galen Kauffman officiated at the special ceremonies.
In the Christian faith, baptism is a sacred rite in which water is used to symbolize the religious purification or consecration of an individual and to represent that person’s admission as a member of the church.
The Christian tradition traces its roots back to the baptism of the prophet John the Baptist. Scholars believe that John most likely was influenced by the practices of ascetic Jewish communities such as the Essenes at Qumran, who practiced ritual immersion in flowing water as an act of religious cleansing as early as the second century B.C. Most scholars also agree that John baptized Jesus in the Jordan River, and all four Christian gospels record Jesus’ baptism as the initial event of his public ministry.
Different methods of the baptismal rite began to develop and, by the second and third centuries, various church manuals contained guidance on baptism that includes instructions for baptism by “pouring.” The historical movement away from outdoor baptism likely occurred in conjunction with the construction of the first buildings as “churches,” the earliest of which is traced to A.D. 250. At that time, some baptisms shifted to “pouring” or “sprinkling” of the candidates inside the church building.
Lake or river baptisms have been held in this area throughout history – a tradition practiced by Anabaptists, including Mennonites and also by Baptists – but the experience has been an infrequent one in the past several decades.
