Baptism

What is baptism?

For many, baptism is the first public step of obedience to Christ. Baptism is for the individual who has received the saving benefits of Christ's atoning work and has become His disciple. Therefore, in obedience to Christ's command and as a testimony to God, the church, oneself and the world, a believer should be baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Water baptism is a visual and symbolic demonstration of a person's union with Christ in the likeness of His death and resurrection. It signifies that his former way of life has been put to death and vividly depicts a person's release from the mastery of sin.

"all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death. We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (Romans 6.3-4)

We recognise that none of this is possible without Jesus - God’s Son who became a human, lived as part of his own creation and willingly took the righteous punishment for our rebellion against God.

Why do we baptise?

Throughout the generations the church has continued to do the things that Jesus did. Jesus was specific about baptism, he told his disciples to train people in the ways of his kingdom and the act of baptism was to be a mark of their part in his kingdom.

So as followers of Jesus we continue to baptise believers because Jesus told us to. You can read more about this in the Bible (see Matthew 28 and Luke 3)

Before baptism, we offer a special class designed to answer your questions about this ordinance. The class is a discussion of the biblical significance of baptism. The class also covers several frequently asked questions, all logistical details of a baptism service and gives you an opportunity to share your testimony. 

If you would like to be baptised, please email Pastor Jonny Giddens here

Read a short document about why we think Baptism is important here. You'll need Adobe Reader software to read this document, which you can download for free here.