Baptism

For us here at Bromham Baptist Church, being baptised by full immersion is an essential expression of our journey of faith and of our relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

• Jesus commands us - the first reason for baptism is to be found in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20).
• Jesus set an example - the command of Jesus is reinforced by his own example in being baptised himself (Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22).
• The early church practised it – we see this on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:37-38) and then throughout the book of Acts (e.g. Acts 10:44-48; 16:13-15).

• A declaration of union with Christ - it is a public way of declaring that you are a follower of Jesus. (Romans 6:1-14).  It does not make you a Christian, it is an external sign of what has already happened when you first truly believed in Jesus as your Saviour.  (Ephesians 1:13-14)

• Many people who turn to Christ have already been ‘baptised’ as a small child.  We believe that baptism without faith is not the baptism of the Bible (Acts 8:37).  So if you are old enough to understand by faith that Jesus truly is the Son of God, that He died for the forgiveness of your sins and that you believe that only Jesus is your Saviour, then choose to publicly declare your faith by baptism as He commands.

• If at your confirmation you meaningfully confirmed the promises made on your behalf by your godparents, and thereby declared that you are a follower of Jesus, we rejoice.
• However, the same argument still applies. The New Testament only knows the ‘one’ baptism in which by ‘faith’ Jesus is confessed as ‘Lord’ (Ephesians 4:5).  Choose then to be baptised as He commands.