Congregations are amused and intrigued by the various response of babies. But there really is little sense that the child is undergoing a profound initiation, a process of cleansing from sin, of entering into the death and resurrection of Christ, and of being received into a new community or family of faith. Few would understand that what is happening is a life-changing and transforming event. Instead, the congregation hears some words spoken, sees some water poured, makes some formal promises to nurture the child in faith, and the whole event is over in a matter of minutes. Nothing appears to have changed.
Life goes on as usual.
The child may be assimilated into the congregation, or may disappear. In our pluralistic and increasingly secular society, there is much confusion and question over who should be baptized and under what conditions. The tension exists primarily between those who adhere to infant baptism and those who believe that repentance must preceed baptism and so should only be offered to those who can profess personal faith. The Anabaptist position that insists that cognition and awareness are necessary prerequisites for baptism rules out the baptism of infants. This position, the insistence upon 'understanding baptism' before receiving poses enormous problems of establishing standards or criteria for what constitutes adequate knowledge or belief or commitment.