A Methodist Baptismal Liturgy

The baptismal rite presented here is found in The United Methodist Hymnal as approved by the 1988 General Conference of the United Methodist Church. The 1992 General Conference approved a forthcoming United Methodist Book of Worship in which the essential text of the rite is unaltered though instructions and rubrics are expanded. Where these 1992 elaborations are deemed particularly significant, they will be noted in the commentary. The process of revising the rite following the 1968 merger of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church began in 1976. During the next dozen years, various forms of the text were issued for use and evaluation, leading to the adoption of the version that appears in the 1989 hymnal. The baptismal covenant is God's Word to us, proclaiming our adoption by grace, and our word to God promising our response of faith and love. Those within the covenant constitute the community we call the church; therefore, the services of the baptismal cove…