The denominations that use Believers Baptism are most Free or Evangelical churches, where there is no set book or set services to go by. Some examples of this type of church are Baptist churches, Pentecostal churches and Gospel Halls.
As the ceremony is an act of witness, the service tends to be at the end of a Sunday Evening family (congregational) service.
The ceremony will either be taken by a ‘Pastor’ (a paid person who looks after the non-liturgical church) if they employ someone to do the service. However usually the service would be taken by an ‘Elder’ who is important in the church.
One would know that a Believers Baptism service is about to be performed as the Elder would introduce this part of the service and there would probably be a Bible reading. The bible reading would be of Jesus’ Baptism when he came up out of the water and is given the Holy Spirit or the reading will be on the day of Pentecost – when the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples after Jesus’ death. Any Him or Prayer chosen would be selected to bear significance to Believers Baptism (e.g.-about Baptism or the work of the Holy Spirit).
If able to, the candidate will give a testimony and talks about the need for his sins to be forgiven – story of how he reached the point of crisis in life to come to Believers Baptism. If the candidate is not able to give a testimony, he/she is lead down in the Baptistery pool/tank and he/she will answer three questions while standing in the pool.
The three questions tend to differ however follow in the lines of:
“Do you repent your sins”, in which the candidate answers: “yes”.
“Do you take Jesus as your saviour”, “yes”.
“Do you promise to serve him faithfully”, “yes”.
When some women are being immersed, they choose to wear long, white robes as a sign of purity and sometimes when the candidate is brought up from the water the candidate might shout out a confession of faith, such as; “Jesus is Lord!”, in which the congregation would reply; “hallelujah”.
Succeeding the answers, the person leading the service would then say something along the lines of; “I gladly baptise you in the name of the Father, Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Formula of Trinity). The candidate is then eased backwards completely underwater and brought up about one second after full immersion under the water.
If a testimony is given, the candidate would be escorted into the pool without questions, only if no testimony was given, would the leader lead the candidate to the pool and ask the above questions.
St Paul emphasises that the water of Baptism did not wash away sin. It is believing in the death of Jesus that cleanses sin – the death of Jesus comes into symbolism of baptism; when the candidate goes underwater; the candidate shares in the death of Jesus. At this point the candidate’s Old sinful life dies. When the candidate is brought up from the water, the candidate shares in the resurrection of Jesus and gains new spiritual life there and then and also receives the promise of life after death. The source of authority for this is St Paul’s letter to the Church in Rome called “Romans.”
The Holy Spirit is always associated in any type of baptism. In Believers Baptism, there is a difference of opinion on when the Holy Spirit is given. There are three possible beliefs of non-liturgical churches on when the Holy Spirit is given:
- When the candidate privately asks Jesus to be his/her saviour, they are immediately given the Holy Spirit, and that Baptism is the last stage along the spiritual journey.
- The Holy Spirit is given when the candidate is raised up our out of the water; this is directly parallel to what happened to Jesus as the Holy Spirit came down to him in the form of a dove.
- After the candidate has left the pool, dried off, come back to the congregation and kneeled to the leader of the service and the ritual takes place called; “the laying on of hands”. This is where the transmition of the Holy Sprit by the leader of the service placing his hand on the candidate’s head. More than one candidate and Elder may be present (e.g.-there could be six Elders and six candidates – so the laying on of hands can be performed to several people at the same time).
The Holy Spirit is seven fold.
If a Church believes that the Holy Spirit is given when asking Jesus to be his/her saviour, the Church obviously would not believe that the Holy Spirit is given after immersion or with the laying of hands and visa-versa for the other beliefs of times when the Holy Spirit is given during a Baptismal service. The candidate is now a born again Christian.
Laith Sheena 10B
