Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
- Romans 6:3–4
The purpose of this guide is to help you understand what baptism is, and the new life in Christ that it begins.
It begins by asking what a sacrament is, then moves through four questions:
1. What is baptism? (read Romans 6:3–4)
2. Why are we baptized? (read Matthew 3:13–17; 28:18–20)
3. Who, when, how often, and how? (read Acts 8:26–40)
4. What happens at a baptism? A walk through Renewal’s baptism service, and what each part means.
Each section closes with questions for reflection, to work through on your own or with others.
“This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19)
Baptism is one of the church’s two sacraments, together with the Lord’s Supper. Before we look at baptism itself, it helps to understand what that word means.
A sacrament is a sign through which God gives what the sign points to. An ordinary thing (water, bread, wine) is joined to God’s promise and received by faith. Augustine described a sacrament as a visible sign of an invisible grace.
The word comes from the Latin sacramentum, which the early church used to translate the Greek mysterion. In the New Testament, a mysterion is not a puzzle we can’t solve, as “mystery” often means in English. It is something once hidden that God has now made known: “the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people… which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:26–27; see also Ephesians 3:3–6). The sacraments are like this. In them, God openly shows and gives what he has done for us in Christ, in a form we can see and touch.
At Renewal we celebrate the two sacraments that Jesus himself commanded:
Baptism, received once, marks our birth into new life with Christ (Matthew 28:19).
The Lord’s Supper, also called Communion or the Eucharist, is received again and again, and nourishes that life (Luke 22:19).
Gordon Smith puts it simply: “to participate in the symbol is to participate in that which is symbolized.” (Evangelical, Sacramental, and Pentecostal). When Jesus held up bread and said, “This is my body,” he was not offering a mere reminder. In the same way, the waters of baptism are a means by which we know the forgiveness of sins and are brought into fellowship with Christ and his church. We signal our faith when we step into the water, but more than that, God acts through the water.
You can hear this in our liturgy. Over the water we pray, “by this water and your Spirit, wash away sin and raise them to new life.” At the table we pray, “Come, Holy Spirit,” and confess that “in bread and cup, by faith, Christ gives himself to us.” There is no magic in the water or the bread. It is the Holy Spirit who makes Christ present, and faith that receives him.
Sacraments are also something done to us. As Eugene Peterson notes, we do not baptize ourselves, and we do not serve ourselves at the Lord’s table. Grace comes to us from outside ourselves, as a gift we could never earn.
Christ saves us, by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8–9). Baptism is not a second way of being saved, and it is not an optional extra to faith. It is the sign Christ gave through which his salvation is sealed and embodied in us. Scripture binds the two tightly together: “Repent and be baptized… for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38); baptism “now saves you… by the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:21).
So Gordon Smith answers: yes and no. Yes: in baptism God truly gives his grace and embodies it in us. No: God is not bound to the moment of baptism. The Holy Spirit is at work before, in, and after baptism and Jesus promised paradise to the thief on the cross, who was never baptized (Luke 23:43). Faith and baptism belong together, and we should not separate them. But baptism is never the limit of God’s reach. It is his gift, and his saving work in us is always bigger than our timing.
Some churches prefer the word ordinance: something Jesus ordained, which we do in obedience. Others say sacrament, to stress that God is the one acting. Both are true. In baptism we obey Jesus’ command, and in baptism God meets us. Gordon Smith argues that the church is at its best when it is evangelical, centred on Christ and his word received by faith; sacramental, meeting God through the signs he has given; and Pentecostal, alive to the Spirit’s presence and power. Baptism holds all three together.
God made us as bodies, not only as minds. In Jesus, “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14). So God meets us in ways we can see, touch, and taste: water poured over skin, bread placed in the hand, wine on the tongue. Jesus, born in Bethlehem, the “house of bread,” gave his body as bread broken for us, and called himself the bread of life (John 6:35).
For reflection
Why do you think God chose such ordinary things as water, bread, and wine to meet us?
What changes for you when you see baptism as something God does, and not only something you do?
Where else have you experienced God meeting you through ordinary, physical things?
“…all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus…”
As a sacrament, baptism is far more than a picture of something that happened elsewhere. In it, God truly unites us, body and soul, to Christ and to his people.
The early church loved this mystery. Around the year 200, Tertullian wrote that Christians are like little fish, named after Jesus the great Fish: “born in water.” (On Baptism, 1; quoted in Eric E. Peterson, Wade in the Water) The ancient acrostic ichthys, “fish,” spelled out Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Saviour. To be a Christian was to have come up out of the water.
The ecumenical Lima statement (Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, 1982) draws together five ways Scripture speaks of baptism. Each is a different window onto one gift:
Dying and rising with Christ (Romans 6:3–4; Colossians 2:12). Baptism unites us with Christ’s death and resurrection. We are buried with him and raised with him to live a new life.
Washed and forgiven (Acts 2:38; 22:16; Hebrews 10:22). Our hearts are sprinkled clean and our bodies washed with pure water. Baptism is also our response to God, “the pledge of a clear conscience toward God” (1 Peter 3:21).
Receiving the Spirit (Acts 2:38; John 3:5). We are born of water and the Spirit, and God marks us as his own.
Joined to the body (1 Corinthians 12:13; Galatians 3:26–28). Baptism is “putting on” Christ, a new identity in him, shared with all who are in him.
A sign of God’s coming kingdom (2 Corinthians 5:17). The new creation has begun, and baptism points to the day when God makes all things new.
We are never baptized alone. Baptism brings us into the one body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 4:4–6). It is not about belonging to a particular leader or group (1 Corinthians 1:13–17), but to Christ and all his people. Paul compares baptism to circumcision, the sign of belonging to God’s people, and links it to faith in the God who raised Jesus from the dead (Colossians 2:11–12).
This is why, at Renewal, we speak of baptism as our real membership. Belonging to a local church is the living-out of what God has already done in baptism.
For reflection
Which of the five windows onto baptism speaks most to you right now? Why?
What does it mean to you that baptism is something God does, and not only something you do?
“…just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father…”
We are baptized because Jesus was baptized, and because he told his followers to baptize. Baptism is not a church invention or an optional extra. It is where Jesus’ own path begins, and where he asks ours to begin too.
Jesus’ example. Jesus himself is baptized by John the Baptist. As he comes up from the water, the Spirit descends on him and the Father speaks: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” The whole Trinity is present (Matthew 3:13–17; Mark 1:4–11; Luke 3:3, 21–22).
Jesus’ command. In the Great Commission, Jesus establishes baptism as a basic practice of Christian discipleship: “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:18–20; see also Mark 16:16).
Born of water and Spirit. Jesus tells Nicodemus that no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are “born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5). Soon after, his disciples are baptizing those who come to him (John 3:22; 4:1–2).
The church’s first response. On the day of Pentecost, Peter calls the crowd to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus, and about three thousand are baptized that day (Acts 2:38–41).
Gordon Smith observes that the New Testament knows nothing of an unbaptized Christian. For the first believers, coming to faith and being baptized belonged together, as two sides of one turning toward Christ. (Evangelical, Sacramental, and Pentecostal)
In baptism, then, we do not simply obey a rule. We step into the same life Jesus entered at the Jordan: named by the Father, filled with the Spirit, and sent. What the Father said over Jesus, he now says over us: you are my beloved.
For reflection
Read Matthew 3:13–17 slowly. What do you notice about how the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are each present?
Why do you think Jesus, who had no sin, chose to be baptized?
What would it mean for you to hear the Father say, “You are my beloved”?
“What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” (Acts 8:36)
The Great Commission is for all who would follow Jesus (Matthew 28:18-20). In Acts 10:44-48, Peter sees that baptism and the gospel are for all people, including the Gentiles: a boundary-breaking moment for the early church. In Acts 16, 18, and 19, new believers from all walks of life are baptized: a businesswoman and her household, a jailer and his family, a synagogue leader and many in Corinth, and disciples who had never heard of the Holy Spirit. No background puts a person beyond the reach of the waters.
At Renewal, we baptize those who have come to trust Jesus and can confess that faith for themselves. That is why, in our baptism service, each person is asked, “Who is your Lord and Saviour?” and answers in their own words, “Jesus Christ is my Lord and Saviour.”
No. Children and youth may be baptized when they understand the good news of Jesus, trust him personally, and want to follow him. We discern this together, in conversation with parents and the elders. Readiness is not about knowing everything. It is about knowing Jesus, and wanting to answer his call.
At Renewal, we do not baptize infants. Instead, we dedicate them. Parents bring their child before the church, and together we give thanks, entrust the child to God, and promise to raise them in the faith, as Hannah gave Samuel to the Lord (1 Samuel 1:27–28) and as Jesus took the children in his arms and blessed them (Mark 10:13–16). Then, when that child comes to faith for themselves, we celebrate their baptism.
It is worth knowing that many Christians, through history and today, baptize the infants of believing families. They see baptism as a sign of God’s covenant promise, much as circumcision was for Israel (Colossians 2:11–12), and point to the households baptized in Acts (Acts 16:15, 33). We honour these brothers and sisters. We practise believers’ baptism because, in the New Testament, baptism ordinarily follows hearing and receiving the good news (Acts 2:41; 8:12).
The story of the Ethiopian official in Acts 8:26–40 is a good place to start. He is reading Isaiah on the road home, and Philip is sent to him. Philip explains the good news about Jesus, and when they come to water the man asks, “What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” He is baptized there and goes on his way rejoicing.
As with Paul and Ananias (Acts 9:17–18), faith comes to him through a person God sends. Centuries later, the same was true for Augustine: his mother Monica prayed for him for years, Bishop Ambrose’s preaching opened Scripture to him, and Ambrose baptized him. God rarely brings anyone to the water alone.
Baptism is the response to hearing and receiving the good news of Jesus. Across Acts, it follows soon after faith. You do not need to have everything figured out. You need to have heard Jesus’ call, and to want to answer it.
Once. “There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Ephesians 4:5). Baptism is God’s act of joining us to Christ in his death and resurrection, and Christ “died to sin once for all” (Romans 6:10). What God has done does not need to be done again.
So if you have already been baptized with water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, whether as an infant or in another church, Renewal honours that baptism. We will not baptize you again. Instead, we invite you to affirm your baptism: to share your story and make the baptismal promises before the church, owning for yourself what God has already done.
The same is true if you were baptized and later drifted from faith. You do not need to be baptized again. Come home, confess, and remember your baptism. God’s promise has not changed.
We do not baptize ourselves. Baptism is always something done to us, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, within the community of the church (Matthew 28:19). Eugene Peterson notes that this is the point: from the moment of baptism, “we are no longer merely ourselves by ourselves.” (Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, 303) We are baptized with water, and we are received by the people of God who will walk with us in the new life.
At Renewal, baptism takes place in our gathered worship, before the whole congregation. A pastor stands in the water and baptizes each person by immersion, while the elders and the people of God surround them with promises and prayer.
For reflection
Who are the people, like Philip, Ananias, or Monica, whom God has sent to you?
Is anything standing in the way of your being baptized? What would it take to bring it to God?
If you were baptized as a child, or in another church, what would it mean for you to affirm that baptism now as your own?
“…we too may live a new life.”
A baptism is not a private ceremony. It is an act of the whole church, gathered in worship, and every part of the service teaches something about what baptism means. Knowing what will happen, and why, can help you prepare with peace and enter the day with joy.
The service begins by placing your baptism within God’s great story. Throughout Scripture, God brings life where there seemed to be none: breathing into a valley of dry bones (Ezekiel 37), opening Saul’s blinded eyes (Acts 9), and walking beside his discouraged disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24).
What it means: Baptism is first about what God does. As you enter the water, you are joined to Christ in his death; as you rise, you are raised into his life. The church gathers to witness what God alone can do: raise the dead, wash away sin, and remake a life in him.
An elder invites you to share your story: how God has been at work in your life and brought you to this day.
What it means: We call it a story of resurrection because that is what baptism celebrates (Romans 6:4). God’s people have always told what he has done: “Come and hear, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me” (Psalm 66:16). Your story encourages the church, and it reminds you that God has been near all along.
Preparing your story. You don’t need a dramatic story, only an honest one. You might reflect on:
What your life and faith were like before you knew Jesus, or before your faith became your own.
The people, moments, and Scriptures God used to draw you to himself.
Why you want to be baptized now, and what following Jesus means to you today.
The pastor leading the baptism, called the celebrant, then asks you five questions:
The celebrant asks: Do you desire today to be baptized?
You respond: I do.
The celebrant asks: Trusting in the gracious mercy of God, do you turn from the ways of sin and renounce evil and its power in the world?
You respond: I do.
The celebrant asks: Who is your Lord and Saviour?
You respond: Jesus Christ is my Lord and Saviour.
The celebrant asks: Will you be Christ’s faithful disciple, obeying his word and showing his love?
You respond: I will, with God’s help.
The celebrant asks: Will you devote yourself to the church’s teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer?
You respond: I will, with God’s help.
What it means:
Desire. No one is baptized against their will. Baptism is God’s gift, freely received.
Turning away. Baptism has always included a clear no before a joyful yes. In the early church, candidates turned to face west, the direction of the setting sun, to renounce evil, then turned east, toward the sunrise, to confess Christ. (Cyril of Jerusalem, Mystagogical Lectures) The promise begins “trusting in the gracious mercy of God”: we turn from sin because God has first turned toward us.
Confession. “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). This is the heart of the Christian faith, spoken aloud.
Discipleship. The last two promises describe the life baptism begins: following Jesus, and belonging to his people in teaching, fellowship, the Lord’s Supper, and prayer (Acts 2:42). Notice the answer: I will, with God’s help. We do not make these promises in our own strength.
The celebrant asks the congregation to stand: People of God, do you promise to walk with them, to encourage them by your prayers, your love, and your life together in Christ?
The people respond, “We do.”
What it means: You are not baptized alone, and you will not follow Jesus alone. In this moment the church takes on a real responsibility for you: to “spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24). It is a promise you will one day make for others.
Together, you and the whole congregation then profess the faith of the Church using the Apostles’ Creed. The celebrant asks three questions, one for each person of the Trinity.
Do you believe and trust in God the Father?
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
Do you believe and trust in his Son Jesus Christ?
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
Do you believe and trust in the Holy Spirit?
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
What it means: The Apostles’ Creed grew out of exactly this moment. In the early church, those being baptized were asked these three questions at the water, following Jesus’ command to baptize “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). When you profess it, you join your voice to Christians in every time and place. (The word catholic here means universal: the whole Church throughout the world.)
Standing in the water, the pastor reminds us that in baptism God names us his beloved and joins us to Jesus in his death and rising. Then the pastor prays over the water, giving thanks for how God has always brought life through water and Spirit:
In the beginning, the Spirit moved over the waters to bring life (Genesis 1:2).
God led his people through the sea to freedom (Exodus 14; 1 Corinthians 10:1–2).
Jesus was baptized in the Jordan and anointed with the Spirit’s power (Matthew 3:16).
The prayer asks God, by this water and his Spirit, to wash away sin, raise you to new life, join you to Christ’s Church, and fill you with his Spirit, that you may follow Jesus all your days.
What it means: The water itself has no magic. It is God, by his Spirit, who acts through it, just as he has acted through water all through the story of salvation. Everyone present is invited to remember their own baptism with joy.
You enter the water, and the pastor says:
[Your name], because of your confession of faith and your desire to follow Christ, I now baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
You are immersed in the water and raised up. As you rise, the whole church responds:
Thanks be to God! We welcome you in the name of Christ.
What it means: Going under the water is a burial, and coming up is a resurrection: “having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God” (Colossians 2:12). Your own name is spoken, because God knows you personally: “I have summoned you by name; you are mine” (Isaiah 43:1). And you rise into a welcome: a family that receives you in Christ’s name.
After the baptisms, the congregation prays for the newly baptized, for the Church, and for the world, confessing together: There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism. By one Spirit, we are made one body.
What it means: Your first act as a baptized Christian is to be prayed for, and to join in praying for others. The new life begins in the communion of God’s people.
Baptism leads to the table. Having been united with Christ by his Spirit in baptism, we are nourished by Christ in this union. In bread and cup, by faith, Christ gives himself to us: forgiveness, new life, and the power of his Spirit. As he was made known to the disciples at Emmaus in the breaking of bread (Luke 24:30–35), he makes himself known to us.
The meal is for all who trust in Christ, turn from sin, and long to walk in his new life. At Renewal we hold the bread and cup and receive them together, as one community. The service closes with words that sum up the whole of baptism:
We have died with Christ. We are raised with Christ. We will live with him in glory. Thanks be to God! Alleluia!
What it means: Baptism happens once; the table is received again and again. Baptism is our birth into the new life, and the Lord’s Supper is the meal that sustains it.
The service ends as we rise to walk in his way, renewing our calling as his people: baptized, beloved, and sent. Baptism is not the finish line of faith. It is the beginning of a life of following Jesus.
For reflection
Which of the five promises do you most look forward to making? Which feels hardest?
As you prepare your story of resurrection, where have you seen God bring life where there seemed to be none?
Which part of the service means the most to you, and why?
Who would you like to be there to walk with you?
Augustine, Confessions, Books VIII–IX
Cyril of Jerusalem, Mystagogical Lectures
Eric E. Peterson, Wade in the Water (Cascade Books, 2018)
Eugene H. Peterson, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places
Gordon T. Smith, Evangelical, Sacramental, and Pentecostal: Why the Church Should Be All Three
Tertullian, On Baptism
World Council of Churches, Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (Faith and Order Paper No. 111, Lima, 1982)
On "Learning about Baptism"
Curated by the Eldership. For updates, questions or shared discernment, Contact Pastor Josh through connect@renewalchurch.ca
The material in Learning the Faith has been reviewed by the Eldership of Renewal Church, our pastors. It reflects what we believe and teach together, rooted in Scripture and in the faith of the Church across the centuries.
Questions are always welcome. If something in these guides raises a question, stirs a doubt, or makes you want to go deeper, please reach out to us. You don’t have to work it out alone. It would be our joy to walk with you.