by Rev. Dr. Brian Wilbert

Just after the turn of the new year, Bishop Jolly introduced the members of our Diocesan Staff to the concepts “Gather. Transform. Send.” from the College for Congregational Development (CCD). On the very first piece of newsprint covering the topic of “gather,” she had sketched a baptismal font. Baptism is our entrance, as children of God, into the life, mission, and ministry of God’s Church. “Holy Baptism is full initiation by water and the Holy Spirit into Christ's Body the Church.” The bond which God establishes in baptism is indissoluble. As part of this sacrament, we are anointed with oil and “marked as Christ’s own forever.” So it is natural that this is one of the significant places we gather. It is the first place a new Christian is invited, greeted, oriented, and incorporated. Baptism is where it all starts – making disciples for Jesus.

And with that sketch we had a vision of organizing a display of all the baptismal fonts in every parish within our diocese for Winter Convocation 2024. Having been well traveled around the Diocese of Ohio during the past 63 years, I had amassed a good collection of “font photos,” roughly about a third of all of our parishes. While going after the other two thirds was a bit of a challenge, I am grateful to clergy and lay leaders alike who snapped photos with their smart phones and either texted or emailed them to me. To that collection I added about a dozen fonts from parishes which are now defunct since those fonts also gathered the faithful for inclusion in God’s church.

The display at Winter Convocation came together far better than I had hoped. What a wonderful array of fonts exist for our ministry of “gathering, transforming, and sending.” We numbered the photographs of the fonts and attached them to display boards. We provided sheets of paper with only the numbers from 1 - 101 and asked participants to see if they could identify the parish home of each font. A few hardy souls made the attempt and one individual REALLY tried to figure out the place of each font. Most participants could readily identify the font from their home parish and a few could point out fonts from neighboring churches in their mission area.

But my favorite comment from the convocation display came from an individual who was brave enough to confess, “You know, I walk by the baptismal font in our church every Sunday on my way to worship but I’ve never really looked at it before.” Exactly. Can you describe the font in your church without looking at it?

Baptismal fonts are one of three symbolic places in our churches where we gather, transform, and from which we send. They are one of the symbols of our two sacraments, the other being the altar. The third symbol could be our pulpits and with that, the three main components of our worship theology are all represented – Initiation, Eucharist, and the proclamation of God’s Word.

Phrases from the baptismal liturgy underscore how important this symbolic wash is to our gathering, transforming, and sending. “Therefore in joyful obedience to your Son, we bring into his fellowship those who come to him in faith, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (BCP, pp. 306/307).

After the sacrament of baptism is administered, we pray, “Sustain them, O Lord, in your Holy Spirit. Give them an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and to love you, and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works” (BCP, p. 308).

And finally we welcome the newly baptized with powerful words of gathering, formation, and sending: “We receive you into the household of God. Confess the faith of Christ crucified, proclaim his resurrection, and share with us in his eternal priesthood” (BCP, p. 308).

So here is a challenge for all members of our diocese: Do you know the story of your baptismal font? When did your church receive it? Was it a memorial gift? If you don’t know the story, search out your vestry minutes. Early vestry minutes, while usually very concise, would not miss the opportunity to record when such an important part of our faith formation became part of our faith communities. And when you find out the story of your font, no matter how simple or detailed, drop me a line so that I can add it to your parish files in our diocesan archives.

Our baptismal font display was so successful that we are thinking of what to do for next year's winter conference. We have decided on postcards. Many parishes in our diocese had postcards made of the exterior and/or interior of their church buildings between 1900 and 1960. Although there was no official reason for this, I call it "Postcard Evangelism." Do you have a postcard of your church that you would like to donate or lend for this display? Email me. If you do not have a postcard of your church, it is very easy and not very expensive to have one made before Winter Convocation 2025. Ask me for details.