FlDDES Baptism and the Process of Christian Initiation 303
baptized as disciples, they are catechumens 'on the way' to complete ini-
tiation, and they are recognized—and valued—by the Church as members
of the body.^58
In this final section I have begun to sketch a 'theology of process' thatnot only supports the concept of a process of initiation, but works out
some of the implications of a common initiation. However, it may well be
that such mutual recognition of 'equivalent processes' will come not by
conceptual theology but by another way, the way of story. In listening to
each other's narratives of our Christian beginnings, in whatever tradition
we are formed, we may be prompted to say 'it's the same journey!'
- This argument differs from those who urge admission of the unbaptized to the
eucharist either on the grounds of an open invitation to the table, or as a means of
leading seekers to faith: for these positions, see the responses of several Methodist
Churches in Thurian (ed.), Churches Respond to BEM, IV, pp. 169,178-79; II, p. 205.