Almost two weeks ago, I posted some thoughts from Robert Webber about reinstituting a kind of "initiation" process in Christian churches. Baptism was named as one rite that needs to be re-emphasized.
Baptism (or the decreasing emphasis on baptism) was the subject of an article in USA Today last week. The article cites statistics that demonstrate that fewer and fewer baptisms are performed by a number of different denominations.
Interestingly enough, the article closes like this:
Churches in the '90s began actively courting church-wary people. These "seeker" churches often de-emphasized strict theology and practice, and gave a less prominent role to baptisms. "We focused so much on the personal decision, the big deal of turning your life over to Christ, that the public, external identification — baptism — was less important in practice," says the Rev. Brian McLaren, who co-founded the non-denominational Cedar Ridge Community Church in Spencerville, Md.Yet McLaren, who retired in January to write and lecture, sees change in the air, particularly when he looks at young church leaders such as the Rev. Rob Bell, 35, who Christianity Today once said "puts the hip in discipleship."At Bell's non-denominational Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Mich., where 12,000 worshipers gather weekly in a former mall, they roll in a portable tank every few weeks so baptismal candidates can witness their conversion to the whole congregation. "We are baptizing more people than ever," because "people are desperate for something ancient and lasting and meaningful," Bell says.
Even if baptisms aren't rising in numbers, they're on the rise in significance, McLaren says. Baptism is "a commitment to a lifelong spiritual practice, a discipleship, not a one-time event."
I've always thought about baptism as total immersion into a new life, nothing more, nothing less. I think these last ideas by McLaren and Bell are very good, make no mistake. Even so, I still see the "personal decision" being as important as the idea of (for lack of better words) continued education or discipleship training coming from an increased emphasis on the rite of baptism.
I think, also, we need to engender the idea that the Christian life is an ongoing adventure. Baptism is something that happens publicly, maybe once or twice, but also daily as we re-immerse ourselves into what it means to be dead to sin and alive in Christ.
H T: Wade Hodges
The Feeder Project 
“Baptism is something that happens publicly”
I don’t think that baptism necessarily has to be public in order to retain its full significance. Who was around when Philip baptized the Ethiopian in the book of Acts? How about when Paul baptized the jailer and his household in Philippi (which, by the way, took place in the dead middle of the night)? The important thing seems to be that we are baptized, not necessarily that we are baptized *in public*.
Yeah. I’d agree with that. I see your point.