Baptism

Crossroads embrace what is called “believer’s baptism,” which honors an individual’s personal decision to trust in Jesus, and their decision to walk in obedience to Him in baptism. Since babies and young children do not yet possess the cognitive abilities to comprehend this, we do not baptize children until they can clearly comprehend the basic idea of trusting and following Jesus, generally 6 years of age or older. If you were baptized as an infant, but now have made a personal commitment to follow Jesus we would encourage you to be baptized as an expression of the decision you have personally made.

The requirement for baptism is accepting Jesus as Lord in the acknowledgment of His authority in and over our lives. For each of us this is an ongoing reality of submission, trust, and obedience as we walk out the Christian life. As it pertains to those seeking baptism, this does not mean they are perfect in obedience to Jesus, none of us are, but have a desire to follow Jesus as both Savior and Lord in the fullness of our lives.

That really hinges on what it meant to you. First, when you were baptized, was it your intention to identify with Jesus and the reality of the exchange of your broken life record for the record of Jesus? What did it mean to you? Second, were you baptized into the life of Jesus or into a specific church or denomination? Some churches baptize people into the latter and we believe Jesus called us to be baptized into Him (Galatians 3:27) as a demonstration of the exchanged life. If this is confusing or you don’t know, we would love to talk through it with you.

Yes…and no. Baptism is a public display of an inward decision to trust in the work of Jesus (salvation). As we walk with you through this process we will discern together if this has happened for you. If there is confusion, we will unpack that with you or encourage you to make that decision before baptism. Second to saving faith, baptism is a display of our desire to live out and grow in our faith. It’s our desire that you would walk this out in community with us! If you are connected at another church, we will likely encourage you to be baptized there.