In the 1700's and early 1800's when a member was baptized, does this mean that this is when they joined the church? Or, does it mean that his is when they joined this congregation, and may have been a member of the church prior to this baptism? Thanks, Dave Sloan **************Get trade secrets for amazing burgers. Watch "Cooking with Tyler Florence" on AOL Food. (http://food.aol.com/tyler-florence?video=4&?NCID=aolfod00030000000002)

>From my understanding of 1800s German Baptists, people (children, teens, adults) attended church services, but were not put on the membership list until they made the adult choice of baptism. Can someone tell me if I'm mixed up on this? It would explain why so many names within families are missing on the church roll I researched, and why children do not appear until teenagers or just before / just after their marriages. I never saw little children on the List. In GB Minutes, Committees did go out to "talk to" Bro somebody to discuss letting his kids go to dances... or not educating the kids. In a First Christian church in the same county, I read Minutes from 1800s that had people getting baptized several times. That always confused me-- didn't the first time "take"? Judy On 5/26/08, DESloan@aol.com <DESloan@aol.com> wrote: > > In the 1700's and early 1800's when a member was baptized, does this mean > that this is when they joined the church? Or, does it mean that his is when > they > joined this congregation, and may have been a member of the church prior to > this baptism? > > Thanks, > Dave Sloan >