River of Life, Feast of Grace

Book excerpt: In the Baptist tradition, baptism marks the unique launch into a life of discipleship, drenched in God's love. Communion is the repeated experience of God's invitation into life-sustaining relationship, overflowing with grace. As such, baptism and communion are profoundly interconnected in the life of the Christian disciple. Theology happens in those moments. Affirming there is no single right way to perform these rites of the church, this book provides students, pastors, and congregations with the analytical skills needed to create robust services of their own, services that will help to shape our understandings of who God is, how God cares about the world, and how Christ-followers can perceive God's invitation to a life of grace through participation in meaningful services of baptism and communion. This book equips readers through, Identifying common struggles and questions concerning the ordinances, Offering multicultural liturgies that engage biblically rooted themes, Honing the analytical skills needed to create theologically robust services of your own, The author's website (https://jenniferwdavidson.com) offers supplemental materials and additional worship resources, making this a must-have resource to lead local congregations toward radical and faithful discipleship. Book jacket.