We baptize believers because Jesus said that people who follow him should be baptized. We do it for our encouragement in faith and for the honor of Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Matthew 28:19-20: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

Our Lord Jesus commanded baptism – he “ordained” it – in order to create an ongoing practice for the church, the church that is his body on earth. It is to be performed in conjunction with making disciples – until Christ returns at the end of the age. We baptize publicly so we can declare and openly confess the commitment we have made to follow Him.

We don’t look at baptism as sacramental.  That is, we do not consider baptism to be a means of grace, a way in which we gain more favor from God because we participated in it. 

We are not saved because we are baptized; we are baptized because we are saved.

We do not receive grace because we are baptized;

    we are baptized because we have received grace

       and we want to testify to the hope-giving, life-sustaining wonder of grace.

God does not love us more because we are baptized;

    we are baptized because God loves us,

       and we declare publicly, personally, and humbly that his love

          has sustained us and will keep us now and forever.

We baptize people who profess their faith in Jesus Christ, who confess that he is their Savior and Lord. 

We practice “believer’s baptism” – meaning we believe that baptism is for believers only and properly performed by immersion (dunked under the water, fully submerged for a very brief moment) as demonstrated in the Bible.  Baptism gets its meaning and its significance from Jesus' triumph over death in the resurrection that guarantees our new life that is everlasting.