Baptism

What is baptism?

We believe baptism is the outward confession of an inward change, and should only be done as an act of obedience to God once you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior. If you look at what baptism meant to early believers and even prior to Christian baptism you see it was a way of making a public identification with a new association.

Christian Baptism is an essential first step for a believer who seeks to become a disciple of Jesus Christ. In taking this step, one is stating that the a new association has been made. The government of self has been toppled and overthrown. In its place, a new authority now reigns and rules. It is Christ, the living Lord!

We uphold the act of baptism as a sacred, uncompromisable injunction of the Scriptures. Every believer, serious in his or her faith, will also be serious about baptism. It is the symbol of our identity with Christ. In many ways, baptism is to Christianity what a ring is to marriage. A picture is indeed worth a thousand words and the picture portrayed in baptism declares a variety of scriptural truths:

  • It proclaims Christ’s death and resurrection - 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
  • It serves as public notice to the world of one’s new life in Christ - Matthew 10:32
  • It pictures a believer’s death to sin and his resurrection to a spiritual life and lifestyle through the power of the Holy Spirit - Romans 6:3-7, Romans 10-11

Our method of baptism is immersion. We feel strongly that this mode best communicates the message of baptism for several reasons:

  • However, the greatest reason is that it best pictures what is symbolically being stated: that one has died to an old way of life and has been raised to walk in a new way of living (Romans 6:3-7).
  • The Greek word for baptism means: to submerge, plunge, drench, saturate, dip1
  • Immersion followed the Jewish proselyte practice.
  • The practice of the early church was immersion.

What do I do if I want to be baptized?

First, congratulations on your decision to follow Christ. We look forward to celebrating this decision with you. We have designed an easy 3-step process designed to make your baptism simple and meaningful.

  1. Listen to the baptism message.

    Baptism Message

    You may also order a CD by emailing the office.

  2. Share your story. Contact the office to make your desire for baptism known, then we’ll contact you to schedule an informational meeting where you’ll have the opportunity to be a part of your own baptism video testimony.
  3. Get baptized! Baptism takes place following one of the Sunday morning services and includes a showing of your prerecorded video.

For questions, please contact our office via email or phone, 919.789.9955.

Sharing your story

Baptism is sharing the story of your desire to identify and follow Jesus. Sharing your story of how you came to know Jesus and when you asked Him to be your Savior, how you arrived to Southbridge Fellowship, what life has been like since Jesus invaded your heart, and why you want to be baptized will allow all witnesses to hear the good news of Christ, as well as affirm your testimony of Christ’s work in your life.

For many sharing in front of crowd can be intimidating. Setting up a time with the technical team for recording your story via video previous to your baptism will allow you to say exactly what you want to say, and how you want to say it. When the appointed day arrives for your baptism, you can know that your testimony of what God has done in your life, and your intention to obey and follow Him, will clearly be expressed to all witnesses.

1 Arndt and Gingrich, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, p. 131