Your Next Step of Faith.

According to Scripture, every person who has repented of their sins, believed in Jesus Christ, trusted him as Savior, and professed faith in Him — that is, who has become a follower of Christ (i.e., a Christian) — should be baptized (Acts 8:12-13; 9:18; 16:33).

To obey the command of Jesus (Matt. 28:18-20), to imitate His example (Luke 3:21), to demonstrate the gospel (Romans 6:3-5), and to show to others that you are now a Christian (Acts 2:41).

Baptism is an act of obedience to be done after one’s conversion — their salvation experience — in Christ. As shown in the New Testament, new believers were baptized as soon as possible after becoming Christians (Acts 2:41; 8:12-13; 9:18; 16:33).

The mode was always by immersion (the Greek word “baptizo” is consistently translated “to dip or immerse”), which demonstrates our death and burial by going under the water. Rising up out of the water is a vivid picture of our new life in Christ. The practice of sprinkling was a tradition that developed later on, as was infant baptism, and does not seem to have biblical support (Acts 8:38-39).

No, but it is required for obedience to Christ, and growing in your fellowship with him (Luke 23:43). We are saved by grace alone, through faith, and salvation is a free gift of God that cannot be earned by any good works. Baptism, therefore, is a serious yet symbolic action of obedience to Christ, demonstrating one’s salvation and conversion experience in him (Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:5).

Yes. Biblical baptism is administered in accordance with New Testament practice and command, under the authority of Christ vested in the local church (Matt. 16:19), and under the oversight of its elders. It is a public act whereby a person professes their faith before a congregation, which both affirms their confession and conduct, promising to hold them accountable in the Christian life through covenant membership. Therefore persons baptized enter into the membership process of the local church administering their baptism. In short, just as the New Testament does not know of non-baptized Christians, neither does it know of baptized Christians apart from active membership in a local church (Acts 2:47).

Though we practice a “close” rather than “closed” communion restricted to only church members, the Lord’s Supper is a Christian ordinance. It assumes those participating are truly Christians who have been born again by the Spirit, and have consequently followed Christ in baptism in obedience to his commands.

Those who observe communion are participating in commemorating and celebrating the Lord Jesus’ death on their behalf, which believers first profess through the waters of baptism (Romans 6:1-4). The ordinances are distinguished but never separated. Those who are baptized are encouraged to take the Supper at their next opportunity, just as those who take the Supper are assumed to have been formerly baptized as genuine followers of Christ.

Any “baptism rite” prior to your decision to receive Christ for salvation would not be true baptism, since you could not reason a choice as an infant. People who are biblically baptized do so as a willful decision to participate in a symbolic demonstration of their previous conversion to Christ. They understand themselves to be Christians, secure and forgiven in Christ, and walk into the baptism waters as an act of their obedience in following Him.

No. The Bible teaches true baptism as a single step of obedience after one’s conversion (Acts 2:38). Though adults baptized at a young age sometimes desire a second baptism to mark a point of spiritual growth or renewal, Christians are only baptized once. For Christians who underwent the practice of baptism before their conversion, they simply need to now be baptized biblically. They should not consider it a re-baptism, but a biblical, genuine baptism in accordance with the Lord’s command (Matt. 28:19), worth much joy for them and the church.