Baptism

What Is the Meaning of Baptism?

Baptism is the time when a person receives a sign of God's promise of salvation. Martin Luther, forebear of the Lutheran Church, often relied on his baptism for comfort in times of crisis, doubt or danger. When he remembered his baptism, he knew that no force on heaven or earth—not even his own disobedience to God—could separate him from God, and so he had nothing to fear.

Baptism also marks the beginning of a person's membership in the Church, and in our congregation. If you have been baptized at any point in your life, whether you actively attend church or not, you are a member of God's family and are eligible to become a member of our congregation. If you have not been baptized, then we are happy to accept you as a member through the sacrament of Holy Baptism. You do not need to be rebaptized.

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Infant Baptism

Most commonly in the Lutheran church, new members are baptized as infants. Martin Luther writes in the Small Catechism, "I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel..."

We believe that baptism is entirely God's work—it is not dependent on our belief, on our acceptance of Jesus or God's truth, or on our choosing to follow Christ. For this reason, we prefer to baptize people as infants, since infants are completely dependent on their parents to love them and give them everything the need to live, just as we are dependent upon God.

Because infants are helpless and dependent on their parents, we ask parents to make several promises to their child in the presence of the assembly:

• To live among God's faithful people.
• To bring them to hear the word and participate in the Lord's Supper.
• To place in their hands the holy scriptures.
• To teach them the Lord's Prayer, the creed and the ten commandments.

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Adult Baptism

In the Lutheran Church, we practice infant baptism, or the baptism of babies. This is because we believe that we come before God as children, there is nothing we can do or offer to God which makes us worthy or prepared for God's love. However, this does NOT mean that adults are not also baptized.

In the early Church, nearly all baptisms were adult baptisms, and were usually preceded by a period of instruction. Baptism is a requirement to be a member of our congregation; all church members have been baptized. Along with formally receiving the promise of God's salvation, baptism is also a sort of initiation into the church.