baptismad

We’re very pleased if you’re seeking baptism yourself. We believe this is an important time for you, and it’s also an important time for the church. That's because your baptism speaks of your turning to Christ, being cleansed from sin and belonging to the fellowship of God’s people. We hope this helps you understand what baptism is about. If, you’d would like more information or you want to discuss something, please contact the minister (see the Feedback page.)

Why be baptised?

Christian believers have two basic reasons:

• Jesus himself accepted baptism by John in the river Jordan as an adult. What Jesus accepted himself we know we need more deeply; and

• Jesus commanded his disciples to baptise. What Jesus commands we are glad to do.

What does baptism mean?

Baptism is, first, a sign of God’s forgiveness of humankind in which we share together. The sprinkled water in baptism carries with it the meaning of cleansing and it directs that promise of cleansing to the person who is baptised, in whom God’s Spirit has been planted.

Baptism is, second, a sign of fellowship with Jesus. Baptism stands near the beginning of your Christian life, and it points to what you wish your life to be: a turning away from the ways of this world and an entering the life of God’s Spirit. It is a sign and a seal of our being brought to a living faith in Jesus.

Baptism joins us to Christ in his death and his resurrection by faith in him, and that faith is shown in the living of our lives as Christians- the followers of Jesus. And because baptism joins us to Christ, it is a a sign that, being united with Christ, we are also part of the Christian community.

What are the ‘pictures’ in baptism?

Traditionally, the Reformed church has tried to express the truth of both sacraments (baptism and the Lord’s Supper) by looking at stories from the Old Testament. So the crossing of the Red Sea by the people of Israel is a picture of baptism: It is the start of a journey leaving behind a life of sin and heading towards a land of promise. The flood (in Noah’s time) is another picture: that in baptism we are given a new beginning by God as our faults and failings are washed away through God’s forgiveness.

Your promises for baptism and membership

Since you come of your own free will to be baptised, and since baptism is a sign of your trusting in Jesus Christ as the one who makes you clean, you need to say publicly that you believe in Christ. Therefore, the minister says to you:

• In seeking baptism, do you reject sin and confess your need of God’s forgiving grace; and believing the Christian faith, do you pledge yourself to glorify God and to love your neighbour?

You answer, I do.

Once you have been baptised, the minister asks you the questions which are put to those who were baptised as infants and who come to profess their faith at a later stage. This is the point at which you “join the church”, and it is part of the baptismal service because baptism is itself a sign of being joined to Jesus and so being joined to the other followers of Jesus. The questions put to you are:

• Do you believe in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and do you confess Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord?

• Do you promise to join regularly with your fellow Christians in worship on the Lord’s day?

• Do you promise to be faithful in reading the Bible and in prayer?

• Do you promise to give a fitting proportion of your time, talents and money for the church’s work in the world?

• Do you promise, depending on the grace of God, to confess Christ before all people, to serve him in your daily work, and to walk in his ways all the days of your life?

You answer to each of these questions, “I do.”

During the baptism, the words printed here are said, and you might like to keep this as a reminder of God’s promises made to you in baptism.

It was for you

that Jesus Christ came into the world,

lived and showed God’s love;

For you he suffered the darkness of Calvary,

and cried at the last, ‘It is accomplished’;

For you he triumphed over death

and rose in newness of life;

for you he ascended to reign

at God’s right hand.

All this he did for you,

before you knew anything of it.

So the Apostle’s words are confirmed:

‘We love because God loved us first.’

Baptism as an adult

stkentigern.org.uk