(From Marva Dawn's 'Joy in Divine Wisdom' pp. 129-130: She applied to become a member of a Mennonite church, but had not been baptized by immersion as an adult):

'On the morning of the discernment process, I was asked to make a brief presentation of the importance to me of my infant baptism and of the nature of my faith in God as a result, because Mennonites actually first arose in protest to the requirement (often without faith) of infant baptism in countries where the state churches demanded it. In response to my faith statement, all the congregation members, who were seated at tables of eight, wrote down what they believed was the best procedure to follow concerning my request for membership.

'[They then] passed their comments to the person on the left so that everyone's remarks were read aloud objectively by the another person. Then each table came to a consensus about whether or not my membership appeal should be accepted. Then the consensus of each table was brought to the entire group, and a final consensus was reached to invite me into membership.'

-- Shalom! Rowland Croucher

http://jmm.aaa.net.au/ (20,000 articles 4000 humor)