Baptism

Every person who has made the decision to believe in Christ.

"Those who believed and accepted His message were baptized." Acts 2:41

"But when they believed Philip as he preached the Good News...and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women." Acts 8:12

The one requirement for baptism is belief in Christ! We don't baptize children until they're old enough to understand and believe.

The Bible gives no age for when a child is ready to be baptized. For baptism to be a meaningful experience and expression of faith, its significance should be understood. Our desire is for a child to understand this important step of baptism in his/her life.

In child development, typically when children reach the age of 8 or 9, they gain the ability to understand abstract concepts. It is at this stage in a child development that they gain the ability to understand imagery such as those concepts involved in baptism representing our spiritual death, burial and resurrection. That being said, each baptism should be determined on a child-by-child basis. This is why, as a community of faith, we desire to have a "conversation of faith" between parent, child and Voxkids Director that we might try to understand more clearly together where a child is in his/her devel-opment.

As soon as you have believed! You shouldn't delay.

"Those who believed…were baptized...that day!" Acts 2:41

In the book of Acts, Philip, one of Jesus's disciples was sharing the Good New of Jesus to a an Ethiopian eunuch. As they traveled, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "Look here is some water! Why shouldn't I be baptized right now?" Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." The official answered, *I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him." Acts 8:36-39 (Paraphrase)

Some churches practice a "baptism of confirmation" for children. 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/her own personal confession of Christ This is different from the practice of baptism we see in the Bible which was done by those who had made a personal decision for Christ. For this reason, we reserve baptism for those who are old enough to understand and choose to make a personal commitment to Christ. To not confuse the purpose and intent of baptism, at Vox Church, a "child dedication" service is available to parents as a ceremony of covenant between parents and God on the behalf of the child. In many ways a "child dedication" service is truly a "parent dedication" service as parents publicly declare to raise their child in the faith until the child is old enough to make his her own personal confession of Christ.

At the beginning of a baptism service the pastor will pray and then briefly explain the meaning of baptism. The pastor will introduce you and the other participants and you can share a brief description of your testimony.

When it is your turn to be baptized, you will get into the water with the person who will baptize you. The person baptizing you will say, "I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. " The person baptizing you will briefly lower you backwards under the water and then raise you back up. You can then leave the water, towel off, get changed, and watch others being baptized.

Don't forget to bring a change of clothes, a towel and bag for your wet clothes.