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As a Baptist Church we believe baptism is only for those who believe and understand its true meaning. Therefore we do not baptise infants but welcome them in a service of Thanksgiving & Dedication.
Insistence on Believers Baptism is the key thing that distinguishes Baptist Churches from other Christian denominations, though many other Evangelical and Pentecostal churches practice Believers’ Baptism. However other churches, Anglican, Methodist, Roman Catholic etc., christen children who are sprinkled with water as a sign of baptism. This ceremony is intended to be a covenant between the parents and God on the behalf of the child. The parents promise to raise their child in the faith until the child is old enough to make his own personal confession of Christ, formally declared at ‘confirmation’. This custom began over 3 centuries after the Bible was completed. This is different from the baptism talked about in the Bible which was clearly for those able to profess belief.
At Whitley Bay Baptist Church, it is possible to become a Church Member without being baptised in the way Jesus demonstrated, providing that there is a satisfactory reason. What this means is that where someone has been christened as a child and received into membership in a church that does not practice believer’s baptism and has made an appropriate act of witness to their faith in that church we do no demand Baptism prior to Church Membership. However it is not possible to serve in a leadership capacity unless one has been baptised by immersion on profession of faith. The Quakers and The Salvation Army have no form of baptism therefore we expect people from such backgrounds to submit to Christian baptism.
Because we do not believe that the christening of an infant is Baptism as the New Testament sense of the word there is no reason why one christened as an infant should not be baptised by immersion on profession of faith.
Resources What We Believe Baptism
Baptism
As a Baptist Church we believe baptism is only for those who believe and understand its true meaning. Therefore we do not baptise infants but welcome them in a service of Thanksgiving & Dedication.
Insistence on Believers Baptism is the key thing that distinguishes Baptist Churches from other Christian denominations, though many other Evangelical and Pentecostal churches practice Believers’ Baptism. However other churches, Anglican, Methodist, Roman Catholic etc., christen children who are sprinkled with water as a sign of baptism. This ceremony is intended to be a covenant between the parents and God on the behalf of the child. The parents promise to raise their child in the faith until the child is old enough to make his own personal confession of Christ, formally declared at ‘confirmation’. This custom began over 3 centuries after the Bible was completed. This is different from the baptism talked about in the Bible which was clearly for those able to profess belief.
At Whitley Bay Baptist Church, it is possible to become a Church Member without being baptised in the way Jesus demonstrated, providing that there is a satisfactory reason. What this means is that where someone has been christened as a child and received into membership in a church that does not practice believer’s baptism and has made an appropriate act of witness to their faith in that church we do no demand Baptism prior to Church Membership. However it is not possible to serve in a leadership capacity unless one has been baptised by immersion on profession of faith. The Quakers and The Salvation Army have no form of baptism therefore we expect people from such backgrounds to submit to Christian baptism.
Because we do not believe that the christening of an infant is Baptism as the New Testament sense of the word there is no reason why one christened as an infant should not be baptised by immersion on profession of faith.