New Life: Baptism

Baptism

Baptism is your first public act of obedience as a follower of Christ. It is not optional, and it is not a private matter. Jesus commanded it, and the New Testament expects it to happen soon after a person comes to faith.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 28:19)

What does baptism mean? It is a picture. When you go down into the water, it pictures your old life dying with Christ. When you come up out of the water, it pictures your new life rising with Him.

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)

Baptism does not save you. Trusting Christ saves you. Baptism is the public sign of what has already happened on the inside. It is the way you stand up in front of the church and the world and say, "I belong to Jesus now."

At Mayflower we baptize believers, not infants. We baptize by immersion, putting the whole person under the water, because that is the picture the New Testament gives us and the pattern we see in Scripture. We baptize people who have themselves trusted Christ and can say so. If you were baptized as an infant before you could believe, we lovingly ask you to be baptized now as a believer. That is not erasing what your family did. It is you, with your own faith, doing what Jesus asked.

For further study, read Matthew 3 and Romans 6. They show you both the example of Jesus' own baptism and the meaning behind yours.

Have you been baptized as a believer? If not, this is your next step. Talk to a pastor. We would be honored to baptize you.