BAPTISM

While Baptists generally agree that immersion of Christian believers should be the normative mode, they divide over the identity of proper candidates and the meaning of the act itself.  Some congregations require immersion of all candidates and the meaning of the act itself.  Some congregations require immersion of all who join the church.  This includes “rebaptism” of those who come from non immersionist traditions or traditions that practice “alien immersion” (immersion performed in non-Baptist churches).

Other churches require immersion only of new converts and those new members who have not previously received immersion. 

Still other churches administer immersion to new believers but accept the previous baptism of all professing Christians who join their ranks.

Debates over admission of non-immersed Christians to church membership or to communion have divided Baptists since the seventeenth century.

The proper age for baptism is another matter that reflects Baptist diversity.  Few, if any, segments of the Baptist family administer baptism to infants.  Rather, Baptists insist that baptism must follow a profession of faith in Christ.

The constitution of our congregation states that “immersion is the primary mode of baptism”

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