Through Believers Baptism or Confirmation, profess your personal faith publicly so that the entire church fellowship may celebrate God’s saving grace in your life.
College Church lives with the tension of either dedicating or baptizing children of believers. We do not consider this difference in biblical understanding to be an essential of the faith, and therefore, we provide for both practices within our fellowship.
- For those dedicated as infants, Believers Baptism is the appropriate step to take upon profession of faith
- For those baptized as infants, Confirmation is the appropriate step to take upon profession of faith
Our attitude in fulfilling the Church’s purpose is summarized in the historic statement, ‘In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.’
Believers Baptism is a symbol of a Christian’s union with Jesus and a step of obedience in following him. It was commanded by our Lord and his apostles for those who, through faith and repentance, have become followers of Jesus Christ. The pattern of the New Testament teaching and practice is that believers were immediately baptized upon their conversion.
In adult baptism, believers bear witness using a physical sign to point to an inner spiritual reality. It should be understood that a person is not saved by baptism. Rather, baptism signifies that he or she has already believed in Jesus and is a public profession of their belief and faith. Those who are baptized have also been joined together with others who share a relationship with Jesus and follow him together within the life of the church.
When a child, having been baptized as an infant, comes to saving faith, it is appropriate to acknowledge and celebrate his or her reception of this gracious gift of salvation by presenting the child before the church family.
As the child publicly declares his or her faith, the church, through her leaders, confirms the reality of God’s saving work in the individual and formally welcomes him or her into the redeemed family of God.
