Study 7. What’s baptism?

One of the things you can expect to see at Christian churches is baptism, again, with lots of this stuff it will be slightly different according to various traditions and practices.

Here in the UK, the church of England, for example, has a practice of infant baptism and then as an adult it would be confirmation, or acknowledgment that you do believe and follow Jesus today. In the church tradition I was introduced to it was full emersion baptism, basically getting into a volume of water, and the pastor would lay you back full under the water and then lift you up again, simple.

But what’s the point?

In the Bible you can read about Jesus’ own baptism, this was carried out by a man called John.(John the Baptist!)

For us today, the significance of this act is a public confession or witness really about the change and transformation that has happened to us.

When we decide to say yes to Jesus we are born again, I know that’s an odd term perhaps to hear but the idea is that the old life, its sin (disobedience) towards God has been forgiven. Just as Jesus died and was buried, then raised to new life, baptism (full emersion anyway) symbolises this process.

As you go down into the water, normally after sharing a few things about why you have decided to follow Jesus, you are laid back until submerged and then raised up again, symbolically into a new life. Something that has already happened to you internally when you first said yes to Jesus.

Baptism is incredibly symbolic about the new life we have in Jesus and is so often a really defining moment for lots of people as they make a clear declaration that they are forgiven, their sin has been washed away and they are now made alive with Jesus Christ.

People have been baptised in rivers, streams, in the sea, in special pools in churches even with buckets of water in prison! The idea is the same even if the methods vary but what we can see is that as people started to believe in Jesus they are then baptised.

Thanks for using these studies, our hope is that this stuff gets you clued up on the Christian church so next time you turn up you will know what’s what!

What next?

We have two more reading plans in this 'how stuff works' series, so check out:

• How Stuff Works: Prayer
• How Stuff Works: The Bible

If you like what you read here in this series, then we have a 4-book set called The Manual Starter Pack that you can get hold of from the CVM shop to drill and mine into this stuff even more. Each book contains a month’s worth of reading notes to explore at your own pace, just go ahead and check out the CVM website.