| Most Recently Posted Ask a Question | |||||||
| Q: | What is the role and tradition of godparents in the Lutheran faith? Should WELS members be godparents to non-WELS children? My Catholic nephew has 2 Lutheran and 1 Catholic godparent. Can non-WELS members be godparents at WELS baptisms? | ||||||
| A: | In the Lutheran church "godparents" were sponsors who promised to help train and raise the child in the faith of the church as taught in the Bible, especially if the child would lose its parents. To serve as such a sponsor a person must be in agreement with the teachings of our church. Some "godparents" are simply witnesses to the baptism, who make no spiritual promise. Such witnesses would not necessarily have to be members of our fellowship. Parents, however, should be advised to choose godparents who can serve as a good spiritual influence on the child. WELS members could be witnesses to a baptism performed in another Christian church. They could not in good conscience promise to help raise a child in a church which accepted false teaching. How does WELS consider members who leave the church to join denominations that are not in doctrinal agreement with you? We would have to warn them against the sin of accepting false doctrine which they are committing by joining a church which adheres to unscriptural teaching. The specifics of that warning would depend on the nature and degree of the false teachings of that church. We would remove them from membership in our church if they so requested, but we could not approve of their transfer to a heterodox church. | ||||||
| |||||||