A series of prayers to be used in common situations, including grief and loss, confession and forgiveness, trust, vocation, thank you, and praise.

This is an exploratory study seeking to document current practices of pre-baptismal education, in the context of specific local churches, to gain insight into what they are doing in this arena. It is the author’s intent to engage in an investigation of the general pre-baptismal experience within the Minneapolis and St. Paul synods of the ELCA and to examine a few specific expressions of this teaching moment. I believe, and the church teaches, that becoming a parent means entering into a calling from God to participate in God’s creative and redemptive activity through the raising of one’s children. However, many parents feel ill equipped to raise their children to respond to God. The literature in religious education suggest that pre-baptismal education is an important tool in the church’s ministry to reach out to and support parents, not only in their own faith journey, but also in assisting them in becoming the primary faith nurturers of their children.