In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus commands his followers to baptize and make disciples of all people. To be faithful to this call, we celebrate Baptism as a vital expression of God’s promise for life and freedom.

Who Can Be Baptized?

In our tradition, we baptize both infants and adults. We baptize infants with trust in the Holy Spirit to live in and create faith in those who are baptized. We baptize adults who wish to join our congregation and have not been baptized in a Christian church. (If you were baptized in a different Christian tradition, you don’t need to be baptized again. God’s word still counts!)

We understand that God saves us in Christ, beginning in baptism. The emphasis is on God’s actions and God’s promise to us, much as parents love an infant or toddler without the child earning it.

Baptism joins us to the Body of Christ and makes us part of the community of the church. Since parents promise to keep their child active in this community, we’d encourage that at least one parent of the baptized child be a member of our congregation or be in the process of joining. Exceptions would include those who are away at school, in military service, or face other special circumstances.