Faith Commitment & Baptism

Baptism is a sign and seal of God’s promises to people who put their confidence in Jesus Christ.

God promises to forgive our sins, adopt us into His family, send the Holy Spirit daily to renew and cleanse us, and to resurrect us to eternal life. These promises are made visible in the water of baptism. Water cleanses, purifies, refreshes and sustains. Jesus Christ is living water who makes these promises available to us before we ever turn to Him.

Baptism is also a declaration of a person devoting their life to Jesus. In baptism, a person commits to love and trust God completely, to follow Jesus in obedience, to forsake evil, and to live a new and holy life.

Once baptized, a Christian remembers that God’s mercy continues to cleanse even when one falls into sin. At the same, time a Christian is reminded to lose their lives daily in order to follow Jesus into the life He offers.

Celebrate does not endorse re-baptism. There is one baptism. Thus, a person who has received a Christian baptism does not need to be baptized again – even if it occurred as a child, one did so as an adult but fell away, one didn’t really “mean it” the first time, or one did so in a different tradition (such as Roman Catholic).

Celebrate does promote remembering one’s baptism. That is to say continually reminding those who are baptized the meaning and assurance that comes from their baptism. And especially connecting affirmation and profession of faith with remembering one’s baptism.

In that light, Celebrate does not believe that having already been baptized should prohibit a person from remembering their baptism experientially with water if that would be meaningful to the person. Typically this could occur through one touching the baptismal water & perhaps putting it on their head. But it could also mean being immersed as a means of renewing one’s commitment to the Lord.

At Celebrate Church we acknowledge that there are a variety of (sometimes strongly held) views regarding the meaning and practice of baptism among Christian groups. This is especially true concerning the belief of whether or not children should be baptized. Our desire is to honor the strengths found in these different perspectives rather than try to argue or persuade others toward a position that they reject on biblical grounds.

Celebrate Church places an emphasis on God’s initiating love and on being part of God’s covenant community. These are the primary reasons that at Celebrate we baptize children of believing parents. In baptizing a child we acknowledge that before a person moves toward a relationship with God, God has already moved toward us in sending Jesus. Additionally, because a parent or both parents are committed to God’s covenant community, we believe their child(ren) can be identified as part of this community through baptism. In this way, all the promises of God are available to the child until they can make a decision of whether or not to follow Jesus on their own. In the meantime, the faith community commits to helping the parents in guiding children and setting an example of following Jesus.

When parents would like their infant or small child to be baptized, they attend our Faith Commitment class and meet with elders. Parents are asked if they have or will publicly profess their own faith in Christ. Furthermore, they are asked if they will commit to raising the child in the way of salvation through Jesus. If that is the case, a date is set when baptism can take place.

Between the ages of five and twelve, it is difficult to determine whether or not baptism should be based on the parent’s faith & commitment or the child’s. Often parents from a believer’s baptism orientation choose not to baptize their child when an infant. These children often develop a relationship with Jesus but are not developmentally able to commit to the degree of those who are older. Thus, extra care is taken and discussions will happen to determine whether it is the right time for baptism to take place.

In the Bible, the age of passage from childhood to adulthood was twelve. In our contemporary culture, this transition takes place over a longer period of time called adolescence. Because twelve could be considered the spiritual age of decision but is not yet full adulthood in our society an alternative path toward baptism is made available to teenagers.

Our Faith Commitment class is available to all teenagers, whether baptized or not. Teenagers will attend the class with an assigned mentor. He or she will then decide whether they are ready to publicly commit to this faith on their own. If they are, baptism will happen for those who have not already experienced this sacrament as a child. Those who have already been baptized can be anointed with oil or choose to remember their baptism through sprinkling or immersion.