Dear Union Family:

I was doing an informal interview of a potential staff candidate when he asked me, "What do you UM’s believe about Baptism?" I had not been asked that one for a while. We talked about Baptism being the symbol of God’s claim on your life—a participatory sacrament wherein we recognize God’s grace being bestowed upon us in a special way.

"What about infant Baptism?"

Scripture supports this—when men were converted to Christianity and baptized, the entire family was converted (male dominated society, remember?) In the United Methodist Church tradition, we leave it up to the family to choose infant Baptism or later as a youth before confirmation or as an adult when they join the church.

"Does Baptism guarantee salvation?"

No, only our faith in Christ does.

"I was baptized in a different denomination, do I have to be rebaptized?"

No, for the United Methodist Church believes we are NOT baptized into a denomination, but into the universal body of Christ. And to deny the first Baptism implies God’s presence was absent then – and if then, why this time or the next? Or, it implies that only one church/denomination has the correct theology of Baptism—and we believe Baptism is dependent upon God, not humans or human institutions. “Believers’ Baptism” per se, is dependent on church to baptize.  We do not re-baptize, but we do recognize Baptisms from other Christian faiths. (We also do not re-marry those who were married in a different church!)

There are three forms of Baptism we utilize—sprinkling, pouring or immersion. We believe the intent, not the form, is most important.

We do have a service of “remembering your Baptism,” which is a service of renewal and re-dedication. Infants/children that are baptized early in life are led to explore their Baptisms during Sunday school, confirmation and similar events. At the point they make their own confession of faith in Christ, they continue that journey of faith.