Believe and (Not) Be Baptised?

Over the years at Hope for Addiction UK, we have been asked a familiar question about people coming out of addiction - when is the right time to be baptised? Of course, as an organisation, we would never assume the role of the church and baptise anyone ourselves. But when it comes to significant decisions in the early stages of recovery, we encourage people to slow down a little and give things time. We do this with decisions about jobs, relationships and other major life changes, not because those things are necessarily wrong, but because it can be helpful to allow someone to find their feet before making a significant commitment.  Baptism is, of course, quite different from these things and is an important act of Christian obedience, but perhaps it too deserves the same thoughtful approach - giving baptism the thought it deserves.  

This can sometimes surprise people, particularly because baptism in the New Testament was usually administered sooner rather than later. We also understand that people can delay too long in taking this important step of obedience and their faith dwindles in the meantime. Yet the issue of when to baptise has remained a talking point throughout church history and even so today. There is no broad consensus.  

In addition, it’s perhaps relevant that the urgency of baptism in the New Testament, may have reflected the urgency of the church’s mission and the rapid growth that was needed when starting at ground zero. To use a separate New Testament example, it would be rare in today’s context to send a missionary out in the field, minus accommodation and basic supplies like food and clothes (Luke 9:1-6, Mattew 10). We understand that this is something that Jesus does because of the urgency of his mission and not because it is necessarily a template for all mission in all places. Perhaps there is something of that in New Testament baptism too. 

So why do we tend to suggest that people take some time over this when coming out of addiction? Here are four reasons. 

Taking baptism too quickly can create pressure. 

As a general rule, we encourage people to avoid big public gestures in the early days of recovery and to remain fairly anonymous in life. This includes being cautious about publicly sharing your testimony, something often done at baptisms. In our ministry, this would only happen after someone is at least six months abstinent and within the confines of a closed Road to Recovery meeting, and we would advise people to wait longer before embracing the church platform. 

We apply similar guidance to big decisions, when we suggest people wait for at least a year before making major life changes other than those that support abstinence. This clears the decks and allows people to focus on recovery, build up time to stabilise emotionally and begin to clear the fog whilst recovering physically. The obvious benefit is that it allows some orientation to take place in this new and very different life before taking other significant steps.  

We may think that baptism should support this - and when it is done at the right time, it can. However, as counterintuitive as it might sound, we suggest that people also take some time before baptism, because going public too early can bring pressures that someone may not be ready to carry. 

There is an obvious background assumption that people will generally continue in the same direction when baptised, and that can become a difficult expectation to carry.  This is especially true for someone who is still adjusting to a brand-new way of living. Early recovery can be a time of considerable change, and the combination of a developing faith and a very different way of life can create a pressure to perform. Someone may also be very aware of previous attempts to walk a righteous path in life, and that awareness can become an added burden if baptism is embraced too quickly. 

It goes without saying that this is not a call to be perfect prior to baptism. It is simply an encouragement to take stock and weigh up this kind of decision in the particular circumstances of each person’s life, lest an important and joyful step inadvertently invite unnecessary pressure.  

Taking baptism too quickly can give a false sense of progress. 

We often highlight that sobriety is not salvation but is instead, for someone coming out of addiction, a means of obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. Maintaining abstinence can be a significant struggle and fertile ground for sin, and obedience in this area needs to be put to the test over a reasonable period so that the individual can grow into it.  

Furthermore, addiction is a lifestyle sin. It can be particularly destructive and all-consuming, and by God’s grace it takes time to form habits that genuinely break with that way of life. In the same way that we might wisely await some long-term fruit from someone coming out of a destructive pattern of sexual sin before baptism, so too we would seek to see the same kind of fruit from those coming out of addiction. The obvious fruit we are talking about here is abstinence over a significant period.

The corollary to that is that baptising someone in the early days of recovery can sometimes give a false sense of progress.  

We have often found that, in the excitement of early recovery, baptism can be held up as a symbol of all that has changed. We can understand this because when someone remains abstinent for a short period of time, having spent years in the mess of addiction, it can genuinely feel as though a corner has truly been turned.  However, this can sometimes come with an over-realised sense of progress, when what is needed is to quietly put the new life to the test over a prolonged period rather than assuming too much too soon.  

We find that the excitement of the first few months can be very different by six to nine months, when the realities of ordinary life begin to make themselves felt. This is not to say that early progress is unreal or unimportant. Rather, it is a reminder that recovery needs time to mature, and baptism should not inadvertently become the measure by which someone judges how far they have come. 

Taking baptism too quickly can give false assurance 

Coupled with this is the possibility that a quick baptism can also give someone a false sense of assurance. Despite clear teaching that baptism does not save, that the water is not magical and the person doing the baptising is not uniquely able to save, we have often observed that people coming out of addiction can attach a great deal of weight to baptism - sometimes almost equating it with being saved. 

We see this most clearly when someone returns to their addiction after being baptised as a Christian. The sense of assurance that accompanied the baptism can be shattered by the disappointment that follows. There can be a deep regret at having been baptised and then fallen back into sin, together with a feeling that an opportunity has somehow been wasted and cannot be repeated. That can leave someone perplexed and unsure of themselves, God and the gospel.  

Part of the diagnosis may be found in this post, which highlights how someone who has spent their life moving from one buzz to another can then transfer that pattern into their new life in recovery. Something similar can happen with baptism when someone is so eager to embrace the experience, having been elated by the assurance of the gospel, that the act itself begins to carry more weight than it should. 

To that end, we would ask people to consider asking another question when someone is seeking baptism having come out of addiction. Rather than simply asking, “How soon do you want to do it?” we might also ask, “How long are you willing to wait?”  

The willingness to wait can give someone an opportunity to reflect on what baptism means to them, whether they are prepared for the public nature of the commitment, and whether they are embracing it as an act of obedience rather than simply as the next exciting step in a new life.   

Taking Baptism too quickly can fuel pride 

Waiting can also be a useful lesson in humility, and humility was often in short supply during addiction. As we have highlighted, there can be a danger, in any new beginning, of transferring the intensity and excitement of an old way of life into the new one. If someone has spent years chasing one experience after another, there is a possibility that the excitement of a new Christian life can become another experience to pursue.  

As such, it is not uncommon in our experience for an individual to gain some abstinence time and then feel that they are further ahead than others because they have overcome the particular sin of addiction in Christ. There can then be a temptation to look at others in church and feel that they too could benefit from a similar learning experience. A sense of spiritual superiority can gradually become part of the story, particularly if someone begins to feel that their testimony is more spectacular than those around them and that God’s work has therefore been greater in their life. 

A quick baptism for someone early in recovery can sometimes reinforce that sense of achievement and put an individual on a pedestal that was never intended to be there. What appears to be helpful can become a hindrance if the outward gets ahead of the inward work that is still taking place.  

Time can help with this. It allows the individual to grow, mature and realise that their testimony is no more spectacular than that of someone who cannot remember exactly when they became a Christian. It was the same Lord, the same cross and the same resurrection that was needed for the salvation of others as it is was for the individual coming out of addiction. 

So, we should be careful how we stand, lest we fall, and church leaders can help with that when it comes to baptising those who come out of addiction.  

Of course, none of this is a silver bullet. We are aware that someone can wait for a significant period and still fall into all of these categories. Nor are we suggesting that there is a magic number of months after which someone is automatically ready for baptism. The timeframes we have described are principles that reflect our wider approach to early recovery, rather than rigid rules for baptism.  

We write with some caution because the Ethiopian Official says to Philip “Look, here is water. Is there any reason why I should not be baptised?” (Acts 8:36). There will be occasions when baptism should happen sooner rather than later, and we should be careful not to put unnecessary barriers in the way of someone’s obedience to Christ.  

Perhaps, then, the question is not simply whether baptism should be early or late. It is whether, in the particular circumstances of someone coming out of addiction, we are giving baptism the thought it deserves.  

We have given four reasons to ponder, whilst remembering that the world of the New Testament looked a little different from the world of the 21st century.