Next Baptism:
January 24 & 25, 2009
during weekend services |
Are You Ready to Be Baptized?
Baptism is for believers. Believers realize that their sin separates
them from God and they have given up all efforts to reach God
through good works or religious activity. They have concluded
that Jesus Christ’s death on the cross for their sins is
the only thing that can bridge the gap between them and God. As
a believer they have decided to trust Christ alone for their salvation. If
you have come to that point in your spiritual journey, then you
are ready to be baptized. Let the invisible miracle that has happened
in you show.
What needs to be done to be baptized:
1. Review the Frequently Asked Questions
2. Register Online (below)
3. After receiving your registration and testimony, Pastor Ken Ingold will be in contact with you to discuss your decision to be baptized and answer any questions you may have.
4. You will be then contacted by Sandy Crays on specific details about the day of the event. If you have further questions, feel free to contact her at sandyc0408@sbcglobal.net / 858.487.4740.
Click Here to Register for Baptism Online
|
 The
Church at Rancho Bernardo
STATEMENT
ON BAPTISM
While recognizing for other churches the right to practice infant baptism
if it conforms to their theologies, the congregation of The Church at
Rancho Bernardo understands the Scripture to teach that only professing
believers qualify for baptism.
Scriptural
teaching on baptism may be summarized as follows:
1) Baptism is an act of obedience to the command of Christ, fulfilled
by individuals who have subjected themselves to His sovereignty.2)
Baptism symbolizes the spiritual cleansing through divine forgiveness
and newness of life experienced by believers by virtue of their identification
with Christ in His death and resurrection.3)
Baptism provides an opportunity for believers to make a formal profession
of their faith before the church.
 4)
As a biblical rite of initiation into the Body of Christ, baptism of believers
may be considered a prerequisite for joining the membership of the church.
Although the old covenant practice of infant circumcision is sometimes
presented as a rationale for infant baptism, the biblical definition of
the functions of circumcision and of baptism show that those two institutions
fulfilled different purposes in their respective covenants. The equation
is never made in the Bible between the circumcision of male infants in
the old covenant and the baptism of born-again believers, much less of
infants, in the new covenant. However, The Church at Rancho Bernardo encourages
Christian parents to present their children for the ceremony of Dedication,
whereby God’s blessing is formally invoked upon the children, and
the parents publicly commit themselves to raise the children in accordance
with the teachings of Scripture.
While The Church at Rancho Bernardo practices immersion as the preferred
mode of baptism based on the biblical reference to baptism in the Bible,
The Church at Rancho Bernardo also recognizes the option of the believers
to be baptized in the mode of sprinkling as well. This is based on the
Sacramentarian view of the ordinances whereby their value lies in the
symbolism they convey and in the faith of the participants rather than
the nature or amount of the elements used, as bread and wine for communion,
and water for baptism.
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