An African understanding of baptism in the Methodist Church with special reference to the stillborn

Abstract

This thesis deals with an African understanding of baptism, regarding the baptism of stillborn babies. There are many instances of stillbirth where ministers, pastors or priests are confronted with grieving parents asking clergy to baptise a stillborn baby. It is often a request or decision of a family before the child could be buried. Furthermore, the burial of unbaptised foetuses and infants, as seen or experienced, reveals the tension between the official doctrine of the Church and the views of congregants, especially in the understanding of God’s saving grace. Parents are often worried that an unbaptised child will not find rest with the Creator God. Even a bigger issue among Africans is the place of the unbaptised stillborn child’s place with the ancestors. For many African Christians, baptism must be ministered before a child is to be buried to meet his or her departed forbearers in the world of the living. In situations like these, the pastor is faced with tension and conflict between theological and doctrinal integrity and pastoral care to the grieving parents. Despite continuous education on original sin, salvation, grace and baptism, people still insist on the baptism of the dead. There is now a change in the approach and language in that a minister performs "christening" on a stillborn when baptism is rejected. This ‘christening’ is regarded as way of introducing the child to the Christian faith and not necessarily dedicating the child to Jesus Christ. Subscribers to this notion cannot motivate or give theological meaning in what they are doing. In this way, pastors try to get past the conflict between the official doctrine on baptism and the expectations of congregants. The sacrament of baptism, within the Methodist family, has always been understood as an outward sign of the new life that God offers to the living through the work of Christ and marks the entry of the person baptised into God’s family, the Church. Therefore, baptism proclaims God’s grace and looks forward to life-long growth into Christ in the fellowship of the Church. It calls for the response of faith that is also a life-long process. Christianity has always held that, belonging to a Christian community is an integral expression of our faith, and thus we expect at least one parent to belong to our community. In the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA), there are no guidelines on how to deal with this kind of request. The doctrinal understanding is very clear, i.e. baptism of the dead is not allowed. However, when one is faced with grieving parents and families, a different approach to the situation needs to be applied, bearing in mind the psychosocial space the parents are at. Stillbirth baptism is not an option, as this rite of passage is meant for the living. Christians publicly acknowledge one's confession of faith and belief in the gospel message. How would a dead person respond in faith? Furthermore, when a person is baptised, this act is meant for those who will be members of the community of faith, the Church. It is evident even from Scripture that, neither Jesus Christ nor his disciples baptised the dead. Our salvation is not determined by us having to receive this sacred ritual. Baptism therefore, a sign and seal of our salvation as it ensures entrance into the community of faith, the church. It has already been paid (Jn. 3:16). We do not have to do anything for God to acknowledge us as God’s. God’s acknowledgement of us is not concerned with what we do or say because God is about our hearts. Proxy baptism, as practised by some, does not have any meaning or does it have any effect on the dead person. We are reassured of God’s grace in our journey of faith that gives us a new life that is not condemned by God. Through grace, we are pardoned, resulting in the renewal of our minds and hearts. John Wesley calls this kind of grace, prevenient grace, that which goes before us. Unbaptised are also covered in the underserved love of God, called grace. Even though Jesus commanded that we baptise, God’s forgiveness does not depend on our earthly rituals. God freely loves us unconditionally. The purpose of sacramental rituals is to build up the Christian community, and each individual Christian within it, in a way that will make the Church as a whole and all Christians more and more powerful and effective witnesses and heralds of God's love for all people and of God's desire to give everlasting life to all human beings. This thesis concludes that baptism of stillborn children is not following Church doctrine, but at the same time, the loss of a baby requires intense pastoral intervention and some form of rite or ceremony. Although the ritual or ceremony does not offer any divine intervention but rather, for Africans, the ritual plays a pivotal role in communicating and appeasing ancestors. A liturgy and ceremony for stillborn children is proposed.