What is Baptism?

We are baptized because Jesus commanded it (Matt. 28:19, 20). Baptism is largely misunderstood by most people. The word ‘baptism’ is from the Greek word baptizo meaning ‘to immerse’. The Greeks used it to describe a cloth being plunged into a dye to change its color. In the Bible it was always used of a repentant believer making a public statement of conversion. Because conversion is spiritual and invisible to the eye, baptism is an outward demonstration of an inward work of God. Baptism pictures:

1.   Dying with Jesus to your sin—being submerged in the water

2.   Rising with Jesus to new life—coming up out of the water

3.   Declaring public allegiance to Jesus—leaving the water to follow Him

Sprinkling does not accurately picture the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus and was not done by Jesus or the apostles. Though not baptizing infants, we provide baby and child dedications which are meaningful times of blessing parents and children as Jesus demonstrated (Matt. 19:13-15).