Baptism is a public expression of a person’s faith in Christ as Lord and Savior and as admission into the membership of a local church.

Baptism is a symbol or picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. In baptism, when someone is placed under the water, it reminds us that Jesus died and was buried. And as the person is raised up out of the water, it reminds us that Jesus was raised from the dead.

When the Holy Spirits helps a person understand the gospel and they choose to obey by being baptized, the person's baptism would show others that they have confessed Jesus as their Lord and Savior and that the sinful life you lived before trusting Jesus is no longer alive. You now have Jesus as your Savior and you want to live for Him as your Lord.

If you're interested in learning more about baptism or talking to someone about taking the next step of obedience to publicly profess your faith, we encourage you to connect with a staff member to discuss those next steps.

What We Believe about Baptism

A person is baptized as a public expression of his or her faith in Christ as Lord and as an admission into the membership of a local church.

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. - Baptist Faith & Message 2000

We believe the true church is made up of those who have personally trusted in Jesus as Lord.

When a person is baptized, this is their first public step of expressing their faith in one Lord—Jesus, and trusting in the full power of the Holy Spirit to enable them to worship and serve one God. That is a believer’s public entry point into the local church.

We believe in baptism by immersion.

The word “baptize” means “to immerse,” or “to plunge under.” Every baptism described in the Bible was a baptism by immersion.

We believe that only those who have already trusted in Jesus should be baptized.

Otherwise, it is not “believer’s” baptism. That could mean, that if you were baptized earlier, but you were not really sincere, you felt pressured, or maybe you just did not really understand the gospel, then your baptism is probably “out of order.” We urge people to get that right because we want you to be obedient to God in every part of your faith. My baptism needs to mean what the Bible says it means.

We believe that baptism is not a gospel issue, but that it is an obedience issue.

Many denominations believe in the same gospel that we do: we are sinners that cannot save ourselves; Jesus is the perfect Son of God who died on the cross in our place; by trusting in Jesus, the penalty for our sin is paid by Him, and His righteousness is applied to us; we are made right with God, forgiven of our sins, and receive eternal life.

We may have different interpretations about the public practice of water baptism, but that is not a gospel issue. Instead, for every local church, it is an obedience issue.

If you got married and your wife never wanted to go out in public with you—I will eat dinner in private with you, but not in public; I will watch a movie, but only at home. I will take a walk, but only when no one is around. No one would look at that and say, “They have a great marriage.”

We do not believe the Bible teaches infant baptism.

We respectfully disagree with churches that practice it. Some denominations see baptism as the New Testament replacement for the sign of circumcision. As a Hebrew, a child was circumcised and you were a part of God’s covenant family, even if you were not personally committed to Yahweh as your Lord.

So for those who practice infant baptism, they believe that the visible church is made up of people who have received the sign of the new covenant, baptism, even though they may not have personally trusted in Jesus.

The way we practice baptism in a local church is the way we say to the community around us, “We are following Jesus together.” If you are a committed member of a local church, you need to submit to ONE baptism as a family member of that church. Your next step at Northbrook could be baptism, or membership.