Baptism is an incredibly significant expression of the Christian faith. It is the first act of discipleship that we engage in as followers of Jesus.

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2 I m so glad that you ve picked up this book to understand baptism better. As you take some time to read it, please don t hesitate to reach out to the church. We would be happy to help you continue to take next steps in your journey of following Jesus. Baptism is an incredibly significant expression of the Christian faith. It is the first act of discipleship that we engage in as followers of Jesus. The pattern that we find in the early church is that as soon as someone believes, they are baptized. In the first sermon of the early church, Peter stands up and declares the significance of Jesus and his death, burial and resurrection. People were convicted and wanted to respond, and Peter s response was repent and be baptized (Acts 2:38). Baptism is the initial outward response to faith in Jesus. Later in the early church, there s an Ethiopian official who has been reading the scroll of Isaiah. Philip is led to him by an angel of the Lord and explains how what this man is reading has been fulfilled in the person of Jesus. As this Ethiopian official comes to recognize the significance of Jesus, his immediate response is to look for water in order to be baptized. As soon as he s baptized, the Spirit takes Philip away (Acts 8:26-39). It s as if he was there just for that moment to help this man recognize the significance of Jesus and then to baptize him. It seems that the response of baptism is that significant. When the Apostle Paul, who had been known as Saul surrendered to Jesus, he had been previously made temporarily blind. As he comes to a place of personal surrender to Jesus, the scales fall from his eyes so that he can see again, and the first response he has before eating, which he hasn t done in 3 days, is to be baptized (Acts 9:17-18). His response of baptism as an act of surrender to Jesus is more important than getting food in his body which has been deprived from it for 3 days. The pattern that s established very early on in this church is this - as soon as you believe, you are baptized. It was not something that you waited for the perfect moment to do. You didn t sit in faith in Christ for a decade before taking the step. It was the first step of obedience to Jesus. In some of Jesus final words to his disciples, he instructs them to go and make disciples (followers of Jesus) of all nations and baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). As the disciples of Jesus make more disciples of Jesus, they are to be baptized. While the pattern in the early church was as soon as you believe, you are baptized, and even though it was a clear command and example set for us by Jesus (Matthew 3:13-17), it s often something that s misunderstood today and even avoided by some. The purpose of this small booklet is to help make more clear the significance of baptism, to answer

3 some of the more common questions that we receive about it and hopefully as you make the decision to be baptized, to give you a better understanding of decision that you re making. WHAT BAPTISM IS: Baptism is a Symbol of Commitment If you re married, during a part of your ceremony, you and your future spouse each took a ring and placed it on the other s finger as a sign of the commitment that you have made to one another. That ring, however, doesn t make you married. If you lose the ring or take it off for some reason, it doesn t nullify your marriage, anymore than wearing a ring automatically makes you married. It s a symbol for you to remember your vows and at the same time, for others to see and know that you are in a committed marriage. In the same way, when you get baptized, it is a symbol of your commitment. Baptism doesn t make you a Christian, nor does it save you, but it is an important symbol of your commitment to Christ. It becomes an important moment that you can look back to, in order to remember not only your commitment to Christ, but his love that has been turned towards you. Because faith can at times be so intangible, baptism becomes a tangible expression that allows us to have an expression of faith to hold onto when we need that. At the same time, it s also a public declaration to others as a symbol of your commitment. When you are baptized at Parkcrest, someone will ask you a question along these lines: Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and do you choose to follow him with your life? It is a question of commitment. You are affirming that Jesus is who he says he is, the anointed one of God who is God in his very essence. You are also making a declaration of your desire to follow him. When you are baptized, it s a symbol of that commitment and belief in Christ (Acts 2:41). Baptism is a Sign of Association One of the comparisons in the New Testament that s made to baptism is the ancient Jewish practice of circumcision (Colossians 2:9-12). For the Jewish people, circumcision was a practice that was a sign for the Jewish people that identified them as a part of the community of God. Baptism then, is not only a symbol of your personal commitment, but is also a sign of the community that you associate with. It is a sign that you are associating yourself with the community of the people of God. It is a sign that you are entering into a larger family that spans across borders and across centuries - you are associating yourself with the worldwide, historical people of God. In the history of the church, baptism has been the main way that people have publicly declared themselves as followers of Jesus and a part of the people of Jesus. Neither in the New Testament, nor in the early church, do we find the way that people identified themselves as followers of Jesus by praying a prayer, raising a hand, or walking forward during an altar call. Those can be significant markers and moments for people, but they are not the historical, biblical way that followers of Jesus showed their association with Jesus and the people of Jesus - the public response to Jesus in the New Testament is always baptism.

4 As you engage in the pattern of the New Testament of believing and then being baptized, you are joining in with the people of faith throughout the centuries who have done the same. This is why at Parkcrest, when someone gets baptized we celebrate and cheer. It s not a somber event. Sometimes there are shouts of congratulations, for others there are tears of joy. That happens because this is a community celebration. It s not just an individual act, but it s also about a community that you associate with. Baptism is an Experience of Identification The most central, elemental confession or belief in the New Testament is this - That Jesus died, was buried and rose from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). At its primal, most essential expression, Christianity is about following a Jesus who died and then rose from the dead. What you are doing in baptism, is re-enacting the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus as an experience of identification (Romans 6:3-4). It is an identification of dying to your old self, and being raised in a new life in Christ. This is a part of the reason that whenever we perform a baptism at Parkcrest it is always a baptism of immersion (being fully immersed in the water). When you are placed under water, it is a picture and an experience of death and burial; and when you are physically raised out of the water it is another picture and experience, but this time of new life and resurrection. In fact, every baptism that we find in the New Testament always involves going under water and coming back up out of the water. The word baptism, comes from the Greek word, baptizo, which literally means to dip or to plunge. So, if you were talking to someone in the first century about baptism, they would always understand you to mean being fully immersed in water. To be sprinkled with water, can be an act of dedication, but it is not, by definition, baptism. If you have not been immersed, then you have not been baptized, because that s the only thing that word means, it s the only way that baptism was done in the New Testament, and to do it another way is to miss the rich experience of identification with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. BAPTISM BARRIERS: Now that we understand a bit more of what baptism is, let s explore a few of the more common barriers that we ve encountered. I ll Get Baptized When I Know More One of the most common barriers that we hear from people about not getting baptized is that they ll do it when they know more. They are committed followers of Jesus, yet they know that there s more about him that they don t yet understand and there s stuff of faith that they haven t gotten all figured out yet. So, they reason, once they get those things figured out, they ll get baptized. The problem is, when I know more is an ever elusive target. If I m growing in my faith, next week I ll know Jesus more than I did this week, and next year I ll be further along in my faith journey than I was this year. If we wait until we know enough none of us will ever get baptized, nor would the 3,000

5 who were baptized at the birth of the church in Acts 2. What we ask you to be able to do at your baptism is to be able to confess that the Resurrected Jesus is Lord and commit your life to following him. You may not fully understand all of what that will look like to live it out, but you re making a commitment to it. It s similar to walking down the aisle on your wedding day. You will make a commitment on that day to one another until death do us part. You don t know what all of the ups and downs of marriage will be like. You don t know where you ll be living in 20 years or what kinds of tragedy might hit your lives, but you know that this is the person who you want to be committed to in the midst of that. As you follow Jesus more, you will continue to know him more and to understand faith in him better. Baptism, though, isn t about waiting for that perfect moment when you know everything or have it all figured out. It s simply about being able to confess Jesus as Lord and making the commitment to follow him as best as you understand that right now. I ll Get Baptized When I Get My Life More Together Another barrier to baptism that s often raised is people saying something to the effect of, I ll get baptized once my life is more together. It s the idea that there are areas of my life that need to be fixed, there s a greater commitment to Christ I need to be at, there s sin in my life that needs to be eradicated - and I can t take the step of baptism until those things are all dealt with. Again, if that s what you re waiting for in order to get baptized, you ll be waiting a long time, you ll never get baptized. Baptism doesn t mean that you have everything all together or that your life doesn t have sin in it or that you re not a hypocrite. It simply means that you are choosing to follow Jesus. You might not have it all together right now, but you have a direction that you re headed. Baptism is the first step of obedience to Jesus. It is not the final step, it s not a midway step, it s the first step. Because of that, we re not going to have it all together and our life is not going to be all lined up. Really, that s a part of the beauty of Jesus. He meets us in the reality of where we are, joins with us in that moment and then calls us to move beyond that reality. Baptism is an invitation by Jesus to be a launching pad towards living out our new life in Christ. Jesus Already Knows What I Believe About Him, So Why Should I Get Baptized? If Jesus already knows my heart and what I believe about him, why should I have to get baptized? The most simple answer to that question that many ask is, because he asks you to. It is the most basic step of being a disciple. A disciple of Jesus is simply someone who hears from Jesus and obeys. Jesus calls all of his disciples to be baptized (Matthew 28:19), so if you believe in Jesus and are a follower of Jesus, why would you not want to follow through on the most basic step of commitment that he asks of you? BAPTISM QUESTIONS: Below you ll find some of the more frequently asked questions that we get about baptism. If you have a question beyond these or something you d like to talk more about, please feel free to contact Mike at the church or mgoldsworthy@parkcrest.org.

6 What if I Was Baptized Before, as an Infant? Many people at Parkcrest come from traditions that baptize infants. If you were baptized as an infant, that was an important decision by your parents to dedicate you as a child. They were making a public declaration to include you in the community of faith, saying that as parents they were committed to raising you in the ways of Jesus and inviting the church to come alongside them as they did that. While that was a significant commitment that your parents made, it was their commitment and not yours. Every baptism that we see happen in the New Testament is what we would call a Believer s Baptism. A Believer s Baptism is when the one being baptized is able to express themselves a belief in Christ. It s about their decision and their commitment. When you make the decision yourself to be baptized because of your personal faith in Christ, it is actually honoring the commitment that your parents made when you were an infant being fulfilled. Their desire in baptizing you as an infant was that you would come to embrace faith in Christ for yourself. In being baptized through your own choice, it is not disrespecting the choice that they made many years ago, but is instead a fulfillment of the commitment that they made and the prayers that they prayed for you. What if I Was Baptized Before, Through My Own Choice? Sometimes people who have already been baptized through their own choice, will express a desire to be re-baptized. This happens for various reasons - they may realize that they did it before because they felt pressured to, there may be a fresh start happening in their life that they d like to demonstrate through baptism, sometimes they think they re supposed to because of confessed sin or changing churches or because they re simply further along in their faith than they were when they originally got baptized. First of all, if you were sincere in your original baptism, responding to Jesus as best as you understood at the time, there is no need to be baptized again. Your baptism was an expression of your faith and trust in that moment. Your baptism does not need to be done at Parkcrest to be valid, nor do you need to get re-baptized every time you come out of significant sin, make a recommitment to the Lord, or come to a deeper experience of faith. However, we have found, for some people it is a significant experience to get baptized again. It marks a fresh start and a renewed commitment to the Lord. While it is not necessary, for some it is helpful to have that as a tangible moment to signify a a new life in Christ. How would you decide to get baptized again? That s a choice between you and the Lord that you should invite other significant people to speak into. We will neither encourage nor discourage you from being baptized again - it s a personal choice. Is My Child Old Enough to Be Baptized Because we believe in a Believer s Baptism, the question for parents as our kids grow and mature in their faith is, is my child old enough to get baptized? There is no prescriptive answer for this. Every child is different and is in different levels of readiness to respond. What is important, however, is that it is your child s choice to be baptized and not your choice for them. They need to understand the commitment that they re making as best as they can for their age, being able to articulate faith in Christ for themselves.

7 In order to help with this, our Children s Ministry provides a baptism class that your child can go through with parental involvement. While this isn t a requirement to get baptized, it is a helpful resource for Parkcrest to be able to partner with parents in helping to discern if your child is ready to be baptized or not. Ultimately, as the parent it s going to be your decision and not the church s to determine if they adequately understand baptism and have displayed faith in Christ to be baptized, but the church can help you in that process. To get more information about our Children s Baptism Class, you can contact our Children s Ministry at or childrensministry@parkcrest.org. Who Can Baptize Me? One of the great experiences of baptism at Parkcrest is that anyone who is already a baptized believer in Jesus can baptize you. We encourage you to have someone who has been significant to you in your spiritual journey to baptize you. They don t need to be a pastor or have any special credentials to baptize you, they only need to be a baptized believer in Jesus themselves. We have seen Junior High Students baptize their parents, friends fly in from out of town to baptize their friend s new found commitment to Christ. We ve baptized parents who then baptize their own children. Home Community Leaders will baptize someone from their Home Community, and all kinds of other variations. Our pastors and elders are always honored when we have the opportunity to baptize someone and are happy to do that for you if you would like, but it can also be a significant experience to have someone else do it as well. Either way, it s your choice. What Will My Baptism Be Like? At your baptism, you will be asked a simple question - Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and do you choose to follow him with your life?. You will be given an opportunity to affirm that statement. The person baptizing you will then say something along the lines of Because of your confession of faith, it is my privilege to now baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. You will be fully immersed under water and then brought back up. If you are baptized in a public experience like during our Worship Services, you should expect people to clap and cheer for you as a part of the celebration. For some, it is a highly emotional moment and for others, though no less significant, it is not as emotional. Regardless of how you personally respond, it doesn t make that important step any more or less significant. When Can I Get Baptized? At Parkcrest, you can be baptized at anytime. The pattern in the New Testament is that as soon as they believed they were baptized (Acts 2:41, Acts 8:36-39). We will make space in any of our Sunday Services to baptize someone who desires to be baptized. Many people at Parkcrest have been baptized in family or friends pools and jacuzzis. It s done with a home community, with family and friends, or in a church service.

8 We also have times during the year where we make a larger, more concentrated call for baptism. Each year in the late Summer/early Fall, we have a time of Church at the Beach, where many people will decide to get baptized at the beach. We also make spontaneous calls for baptism at times during the church service, as a way of encouraging those who have been putting off this significant step of discipleship. If you d like to schedule a Sunday to be baptized during church services, please contact the church at or general@parkcrest.org. We re so glad that you re considering this significant step. Please don t hesitate to reach out to any of our pastors or other leaders at Parkcrest to help in any way for this process.

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