Believer's Baptism

Because the meaning of the word and the practice and teaching of Jesus and His Apostles, we only practice Believer's Baptism by immersion.  The word "baptize" in Jesus' day meant "to dip or immerse" and as best as we can tell from Scripture, this word never meant "pour or sprinkle" which are completely different Greek words in the New Testament. Other religions of Jesus' day used immersion (baptism) as part of the conversion and membership process.  For example, when a Gentile desired to convert to Judaism, not only would he go through a process that included various ceremonial washings but he was also immersed in water.  This was the historical context in which Christian Baptism began.  It was all part and parcel of people identifying with a particular teacher and/or group.  John the Baptist preached a baptism of repentance; meaning that people who accepted as true what John was preaching would repent of their sins and only after repenting would John baptize them (cf. Matthew 3:1-6; Luke 3:1-18; John 3:23-4:2).  Though Jesus was the fulfillment of John's preaching in many respects, Jesus Himself preached the same message as John (see Mark 1:14-15) and had His disciples immerse (baptize) new followers just as John the Baptist did.  In other words, there is no doubt what John the Baptist's mode and practice were, and since Jesus is said to have been even more successful than John (John 4:1), it is clear how Jesus added disciples to His growing group.

Scripture makes it clear that after repenting of one's sins and confessing Jesus as Lord, the individual is to be immersed in water (baptized) in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in obedience to Jesus' command in Matthew 28:19.  Scripture teaches that Baptism is not a work someone does to earn their salvation (cf. Titus 3:5-6 & Eph. 2:8-9), but it is typically the first step of obedience after a person confesses Jesus Christ to be Lord of their life and repents of their sins.  

If you have been saved but have never been baptised by immersion and you desire to obey the Lord's command, we'd love the opportunity to talk with you after the Sunday AM service about this important step of obeying Jesus Christ.  

The Lord's Table

The night before the Lord Jesus was crucified, He inaugurated the New Covenant at what has been called, "The last supper."  On this occasion, Jesus broke bread and passed the cup of wine to His disciples.  As Jesus passed the bread and cup to His disciples, He gave those elements a spiritual significance.  He said the bread was His body and the cup of wine was His blood.  He was celebrating the Lord's passover with His followers and in doing so, gave the picture of Himself being the Passoever Lamb who was killed so that death might not come to His people.  Jesus taught that the bread and wine (or the cup, if you will) were symbols to be remembered, NOT elements that somehow turn into the physical body and blood of Jesus. This Memorial View of The Lord's Table is clear from the Gospel of Luke 22:19 and 1 Corinthians 11:24 & 25.  

We usually celebrate The Lord’s Table on the 3rd Sunday of each month, though this changes from time to time. This celebration of The Lord's Table is open to all genuine disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ who are walking in fellowship with Him and are not knowingly living in unrepentant sin.