The Local Church and Rites of Passage

The moment something becomes public

A rite of passage marks a change in a life: birth, adulthood, marriage, death. It is easy to learn them as four ceremonies and miss what they have in common. ⭐ Notice that none of them creates the fact. A baby exists before the baptism. A couple love each other before the wedding. A person has died before the funeral. ⭐⭐ What the rite adds is WITNESSES. A private fact becomes a public one, in front of people who now know it, and who in most traditions are asked to promise something themselves. And that is why this module has two halves rather than one. The rite needs a public, and the local church is the public that receives it. ⚠️ You already have the question from the earlier modules: does the action DO something or SHOW something? Rites of passage are where it is hardest, and where Christians disagree most sharply.

The fact, and what the rite adds

Take any rite of passage and separate two things: what was already true, and what the ceremony adds to it. Doing that separation is how you answer almost any question on this topic, and it is also where the disagreements between Christians become visible.

Order the rites across a life

Put these Christian rites of passage in the order they would come in one person life.

• Baptism, marking entry into the Christian community
• Confirmation, in which a person takes on for themselves what was promised for them
• Marriage, in which two people make promises before witnesses
• A funeral, at which a community marks a death

What a funeral is for

Christians hold different views about what a funeral service is for. Which answer best reflects the range of views a good answer would give?

• Views differ: some emphasise commending the person who has died to God, others emphasise comforting the living and giving thanks for a life, and many hold both together
• It is only for the living, since nothing said can affect the person who has died
• It is only for the person who has died
• It is simply a social custom with no religious meaning attached

Words for this part of the course

Five terms, each defined so you can use it in a sentence rather than only recognise it.

Find the sentence about witnesses

A student writes about Christian marriage. Select the ONE sentence that explains why the ceremony happens in front of other people.

• Many Christians marry in a church rather than anywhere else.
• The service usually includes readings, promises and the giving of rings.
• The promises are made in front of a congregation because a promise nobody heard cannot be held to, and in many traditions those present are asked to promise their support in return.
• Weddings are often followed by a party for family and friends.
• I think a church wedding looks more special than other kinds.

Which practices show the doing view

Three of these five suggest a tradition understands a rite as DOING something rather than showing something. Choose the three.

• Baptising an infant, with godparents promising on the child behalf
• Requiring an ordained minister to conduct the rite
• Keeping the words of the service fixed and unvaried
• Asking the couple or the candidate to explain their own faith in their own words
• Allowing any member of the congregation to lead the ceremony

Three questions, and you have them all now

This is the last of the three practices modules, and the questions accumulate rather than replace one another. ⭐ Does the action do something, or show something? ⭐ If it happens on a fixed date, what does the repetition do to it? ⭐ And who is this moment for, and who is now a witness? ⚠️ Then attribute every view to those who hold it. Marks in this subject come from explaining reasoning, never from ruling between traditions.

Match the practice to what it shows about the tradition

The same promise, said twice

Leave church aside. Somebody tells a friend privately that they are going to give up smoking. A week later, at a family lunch, they say the same sentence again with eleven people listening. ⭐ Nothing about the intention changed between those two moments. The sentence was just as sincere the first time. What changed is that eleven people now know. Somebody will ask in a fortnight. The person cannot quietly stop trying and have nobody notice, and if things go badly there are eleven people who might help rather than one. ⚠️ And notice the second half, which is easy to miss. The room took something on too. Having listened, they are now the people who ought to ask, and who ought not to offer. ⭐⭐ That is the difference a public moment makes to a private fact: not the fact itself, but who is now involved in it, on both sides. Keep that in mind and the ceremonies in this module stop looking like decoration around events that had already happened.

Complete the rites of passage facts

A ceremony marking a change of stage in a life is called a rite of _____. At an infant baptism, promises are made on the child behalf by a _____, and in many traditions the whole _____ present is asked to promise support as well. Where somebody was baptised as an infant, a later rite called _____ allows them to take those promises on for themselves. Marriage promises are made aloud before witnesses, and a _____ marks a death, with traditions differing over whether the service is chiefly for the person who has died or for those who are left. The community of Christians in one place, which receives all of these moments, is the _____ church.

Build the explanation

Complete an explanation of why a Christian rite of passage takes place in front of a congregation.

Rites quick-fire

Five quick decisions. Three lives.

Explain a rite to somebody outside it

Somebody who is not religious asks why a family would hold a church service for a change that has already happened. Work through your answer.

• How do you begin?
• They ask why it has to be in a church rather than anywhere else. What is the strongest answer?
• They point out that some Christians disagree about who may be married in church. How do you handle that?

Explain why rites of passage are public

Some people argue that a rite of passage changes nothing, because the birth, the relationship or the death has already happened. Evaluate that view, using Christian rites of passage and the role of the local church.

• Explain what is already true before the rite takes place, using one example
• Explain what the rite adds, including the part played by those who witness it
• Give one example of Christians disagreeing about a rite, attributing each view
• Use the terms rite of passage, congregation and confirmation correctly
• Reach a judgement and support it, remembering that no position is being marked as the right one