Grace City Church Baptizes 10-Year-Old Without Parental Knowledge, Consent
They said she was a sinner and needed to repent, her father says she will never set foot in church again
*The name of the main subject, a minor, has been changed to protect her privacy and safety. The name of her friend, also a minor, has also been changed.
Daphne is 10.
On Easter Sunday, April 17, 2022 she went to Grace City Church’s “Hometown Easter Jesus Fair” at the Chelan County Fairgrounds with a friend, a girl named Julie, and Julie’s grandmother. After the baptisms started, Julie stepped away to talk on the phone. One of the preachers on stage asked for those in the crowd to raise their hands if they’d never been baptized.
Daphne raised her hand.
“Julie’s grandma was right behind me and tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Hey, you haven’t been baptized?’ and I said ‘no’ and she said ‘ok well, go up there. You’re supposed to be being baptized if you’ve never been baptized.’ And I was like, ‘Uh, ok,’” she said.
So she went up to the stage with the tanks full of water. She said she felt unsure of herself. They gave her a set of baptismal clothes for the submersion. She got changed in a little tent.
“There were a lot of people,” she said. “Holding my hand and talking about how I was a sinner and the reason they were giving me this baptism was so that I could be clean and I’m not a sinner anymore. They were asking me all these questions about if I’m ok, if uh, Jesus rains his blood on me today.”
Then she got in one of the tubs and a man submerged her head underwater.
When asked if he had a beard she said no, and later identified the man as Grace City Church pastor of finance Kyle Strong after I showed her a photo of him.
After her baptism, Daphne said they made her fill out a contact card and provide her name, home address, email address (she doesn’t have one), phone number, and the name of her city group leader. City groups are the small groups within the larger congregation and a key to maintaining control, from what ex-members report.
Her father, Paul, said he knew the event was at the fairgrounds so he thought it would be “a big, safe place to go have fun with her friends for Easter.”
He said he didn’t realize there was a baptism event until he took a second look at the marketing materials the day after Daphne’s baptism.
“I didn’t think it would be forced upon her,” he said. “Or make her feel like she was forced to do it.”
When I asked her if she felt like she was forced into it she said yes.
She said she thought they would “maybe do a few prayers and then an easter egg hunt and get some food. Maybe play some games and stuff.”
After the baptism Daphne changed back into the clothes in which she had arrived. She got a hot dog and some ice cream and texted a friend and her mom, asking them to come get her.
The plan had always been for this other friend and their mom to pick her up from the fairgrounds, but not until later in the day. After her baptism though, Daphne wanted to get out of there ahead of schedule.
Her friend’s mom said Daphne threw the wet baptismal clothes GCC gave her in the trash as soon as they arrived at her residence near Cashmere.
The next day, Monday, April 18, Paul went to Grace City Church’s compound in Sunnyslope.
“My goal was to get her personal information removed from them,” he said. “Because that was a real concerning part of the whole thing for me.”
He said he went into one of the buildings and walked around the campus and noticed construction going on, but didn’t find any office or staff member around. So he left and then called the church, but no one answered.
As of April 19 a pop-up notification on GCC’s website still read, “We're off to the fair for Hometown Easter! See y'all Sunday at the Chelan County Fairgrounds in Cashmere.”
I sent GCC an email asking about Daphne’s experience, Paul’s desire to have them delete her personal info from their database and what their policy is on the baptism of minors. And I asked if they seek or require parental consent before baptizing minors?
I have not heard back from them, but if I do I will post an update here.
One of the things I have thought about since listening to “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill” by Christianity Today is this: how do you quantify how many people will turn away from God forever because of negative or abusive experiences in churches?
It’s a question the host, Mike Cosper, asks throughout the podcast while examining the “church hurt,” bullying and abuse Mark Driscoll doled out upon his followers. Many of those people left not just Mars Hill, but Christianity itself, because of those experiences.
As for Daphne and Paul, the experience has clearly turned them off of ever attending Grace City, or any church, for that matter.
“She was terrified,” he said. “She will never set foot in church again.”
At the end of our interview I asked Daphne if she had anything else to add.
“I would say I really didn’t enjoy it. And the music was really loud. Maybe just turn it down a little bit,” she said.
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