Tradition can't always remain

I am a Christian. I proudly make this statement in a world in which it is increasingly becoming more popular to keep your beliefs private fare. I honestly do not understand how anyone could have a child and not be a believer. The miracle of childbirth alone should be enough. Anyways, the real point of this post is to discuss what occurred today at church. Today, my church held a mass baptism outside. It regularly holds baptisms like this in which anyone is welcome to come and participate. I was fortunate enough to be baptized in this manner earlier this year. It truly is a remarkable experience to see throngs of strangers gathered around in full support of you. The one striking difference in this type of baptism and the more traditional in-service baptisms is the pure spontaneity of it. There is an emotional and spiritual charge to see someone so moved by Christ that they climb into the water fully dressed in their church clothes and emerge with a childlike smile on their face. Upon exiting the water, they are greeted and congratulated by people they have never seen or spoken to before. This is just one of many reasons I love my church. I understand that it is not for everyone. They play rock music instead of traditional hymns. It is more common to see someone in blue jeans than it is a suit. The previous two series we covered were the Gospel according to the Beatles and the Gospel according to U2. I've seen Sweet Home Alabama performed on stage and watched clips from movies like Cinderella Man. However, as laid back and "non-church" as this may seem, I feel they do two things absolutely perfectly - first, they remove ANY excuses for not going to church (nothing to wear - come casual, I work weekends - sermons are available online, no babysitter - there are baby viewing rooms and day cares, etc.). Secondly, they put their entire emphasis and focus on spreading the word of Christ...to those who otherwise would not hear it. The Christian faith is suffering severely in this country because too many churches cater to the members they already have. Churches across the country are filled with older people who have gone their entire lives. They have read the bible multiple times. They know the words to all the songs. And, they have heard Jesus Christ loud and clear. The challenge is not to appease them. The challenge is to bring in the younger generation, to bring in the people who don't go to church because they think it is boring, to spread the word to people in other countries who may have never even seen a bible. Thousands of people attend my church each weekend. Those people give millions of dollars per year. Those millions are spread throughout the world to help people come to know Jesus. So, while I understand tradition is hard to break, I hope many more churches will follow this example as I guarantee when it comes down to it, my current church does exponentially more in terms of teaching the bible, promoting mission work, and connecting people with Christ than my previous, much more traditional church.