I received a phone call today inquiring about what it would take to have children baptized in the church. The caller mentioned that they had grown up Lutheran but had been in a boy scout troop that met in a Presbyterian church.
I began to explain what it meant to be baptized as a Christian when the caller stopped me in my tracks and asked if Lutheran and Presbyterian were considered Christian. It wasn't a trick question, it was simply a question from someone outside the church looking in not having any idea what the labels meant!
For those of us on the "inside" we may be surprised by this as we assume that the known denominational label means we are Christian and we assume everyone else should know this too. The reality is that from the "outside" Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, Assemblies of God... might just as easily be a cult. They are simply badges of differentiation, ways for insiders to tell themselves apart but they are confusing labels for the outsider trying to figure the whole thing out.
Does the upfront public declaration of a particular identity help or hinder the un-churched in their faith formation?
