Baptisms

We believe that in baptism the Spirit demonstrates and confirms God’s promise to include us and our children in his gracious covenant, cleansing us from sin, and giving us newness of life, as participants in Christ’s death and resurrection. Baptism sets us in the visible community of Christ’s people and joins us to all other believers by a powerful bond. For both children and adults, baptism is a reminder that God loves us long before we can love him. Our understanding continues and deepens throughout life.

When anyone is ready to make a commitment of faith to Jesus Christ, we graciously celebrate that moment through baptism. We have a baptismal font that is always open in the front of the Sanctuary. We say the words Jesus said, we pray, we take water from the font and place it on the person’s head, and then we rejoice, we sing, we celebrate.

The tradition for 1,500 years was that newcomers to the faith were baptized, but along with them, their entire family would be baptized, including babies. It was during the Reformation in the 1500s that some thought baptism was intended only for those who were able to make a confession of faith. They began a movement called believers’ baptism and made this the practice in their churches. You still see this in many churches today (Baptist, Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ, for example). Presbyterians love to celebrate baptism for babies, welcoming them into the community of faith, pledging to walk with them in the faith, teaching them how to join in the Lord’s Supper, and encouraging them to make their own profession of faith when they are ready.

Those baptized as babies do not need to be baptized again. Once baptized, always baptized. But we do encourage those baptized as babies, at an appropriate age, to go through a confirmation class, learn about the faith, and then make a public profession of faith; then all of us celebrate that they have been baptized and loved ever since they were born.