Why Baptism Is a Big Deal
Your decision to follow Jesus is personal, but it’s not meant to be private. It’s a decision that should be celebrated. Baptism is that celebration.
Like a wedding ceremony, baptism invites others to witness a commitment and celebrate a cherished personal relationship. It tells the world we are not ashamed of our commitment to Jesus, and we are willing to follow Him wherever He leads us (Luke 9:23-26).
After asking Jesus into our lives, baptism is the first way we demonstrate our willingness to obey God. Jesus left instructions specifying that baptism should be the first thing all new believers should do (Matthew 28:18-19). Even Jesus submitted to baptism (Matthew 3:13-17). As the good news of Jesus began to spread, baptizing new disciples was the regular practice (Acts 2:41, Acts 8:12-13, Acts 8:36-39, Acts 16:31-33, Acts 19:2-5).
Why We Baptize by Immersion
Baptism is symbolic of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection (Romans 6:3-11). Being lowered into the water represents the death and burial of the sinful person we used to be. Coming up out of the water represents Jesus giving us a brand new start and the promise of eternal life with Him (2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 2:4-6).
Baptism is an important milestone in every Christian’s life. The water itself does not remove our sin or make us clean, but baptism serves as a constant reminder that we now have a clean conscience before God because Jesus cleaned us of our sin (1 Peter 3:21-22).
Because of the spiritual implications of baptism, we fully immerse believers into the water. In fact, the word baptism means to be completely immersed into or surrounded by water, and every recorded example of baptism in the Bible describes believers being immersed into the water (Mark 1:10, John 3:23, Acts 8:36-38).
Is Baptism Your Next Step?
If you have not been baptized since asking Jesus into your life, the answer is yes! Don’t wait a moment longer. Stop at the Next Steps Area at any NewSpring campus, or visit www.newspring.cc/baptism to learn more.
If you were baptized as an infant in another church, do you still need to be baptized? That depends. If you can’t remember a time when you committed your life to Jesus, baptism is not your next step. Asking Jesus into your life is your first step, and we can help you do that.
However, if you can remember a time when you asked Jesus into your life after you were baptized as an infant, then, yes, baptism is your next step.
Baptism is for those who have understood their need to repent of sin, given their lives to Jesus, and trusted Him as their savior (Acts 2:38). At NewSpring, we baptize children as soon as they are able to articulate their own decision to follow Jesus and understand the meaning of baptism.
Perhaps in the past you asked Jesus into your life and got baptized, but you’ve stopped following Jesus with the same passion you had at first. Do you need to be re-baptized to renew your commitment to God? We all mess up and fall short, even after we’ve asked Jesus into our lives. When this happens, the Bible teaches us to:
Baptism is something we do after salvation to declare our decision to follow Jesus. So if you’ve already been saved, you don’t need to be baptized again. However, confession and repentance happen throughout our lives as we learn to follow Jesus step by step. If you’re not sure what’s next for you, our Care Team would love to pray with you and help you discover your next step.
Following Jesus is a lifelong journey. You can rest assured that whatever next step Jesus is asking you to take, your obedience will lead to greater faith and greater adventures than you can imagine.