We believe baptism is the outward confession of an inward change, and should be done as an act of obedience to God once you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior. If you look at what baptism meant to early believers, and even prior to Christian baptism, you see it was a way of making a public identification with a new association. Christian Baptism is an essential first step for a believer who seeks to become a disciple of Jesus Christ. The government of self has been toppled and overthrown. In its place, a new authority now reigns and rules. It is Christ, the living Lord!
Why baptism?
Every believer, serious in his or her faith, will also be serious about baptism. It is the symbol of our identity with Christ. In many ways, baptism is to Christianity what a ring is to marriage. A picture is indeed worth a thousand words and the picture portrayed in baptism declares a variety of scriptural truths:
It serves as public notice to the world of one’s new life in Christ – Matthew 10:32
It pictures a believer’s death to sin and his resurrection to a spiritual life and lifestyle through the power of the Holy Spirit – Romans 6:3-7, Romans 10-11
How does Southbridge celebrate baptism?
Our method of baptism is immersion. We feel strongly that this mode best communicates the message of baptism for several reasons:
The Greek word for baptism means: to submerge, plunge, drench, saturate, or dip
Immersion followed the Jewish proselyte practice
The practice of the early church was immersion- Acts 8:38-39
It best represents what is symbolically being stated in Romans 6:3-7
…don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
Southbridge's baptism process:
Listen to the baptism message
Register for the next baptism by emailing southbridge@southbridgefellowship.com with the following info:
First and Last Name
Mailing Address
Phone Number
Date of Birth
And answers to the following questions:
How and when did you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior?
For questions, please contact our office via email or phone, [office-phone]
Sharing your story
Getting baptized is an incredible opportunity to share God’s message of love and redemption with others. To showcase what Christ has done in your life, we ask that you share your story as a public profession of your faith. Once you have listened to the baptism message and sent us your baptism registration info, a pastor will contact you to answer any questions and setup a time for you to video record your story. We will record your story via video so that you can do as many takes as necessary while sharing the message you have thoughtfully and prayerfully prepared ahead of time. Some people are nervous about taping their stories, but we work hard to make the process simple and fulfilling.
Please understand that your story does not need to be extensive and elaborate. You should be able to share your story in 2-4 minutes. We’ve provided the following outline to help you think through your story so that you will feel prepared for recording. We suggest thinking of your story in three distinct categories:
Before Christ
Introduce yourself and tell a fact or two about yourself. Ex: My name is Sarah, I am married to Jim, and I’m a mother of 3, or my name is Chuck and I’m a junior at Leesville High School.
Briefly describe your life and your spiritual journey with God BEFORE you accepted Christ’s salvation.
Try to only include stories that were a significant part of you giving your life to Christ.
Remember, this story is about your new life in Christ more than how “bad” you once were.
Giving Your Life to Christ
Describe the event(s) that led up to you becoming aware of the yearnings you experienced for something more, namely your need for Jesus.
Share what finally moved you to accept Christ’s gift of salvation and trust Him as your Lord and Savior.
Feel free to share if a certain person was instrumental in helping you through your process.
It could have been a conversation with a friend, a situation you faced, something you heard during a church service, a small group, a song, etc…
Your Journey with Christ
Share how your life is now that you have given your life to Christ.
What are you doing to grow in your relationship with Christ?
Baptism
What is baptism?
What we believe about baptism:
We believe baptism is the outward confession of an inward change, and should be done as an act of obedience to God once you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior. If you look at what baptism meant to early believers, and even prior to Christian baptism, you see it was a way of making a public identification with a new association. Christian Baptism is an essential first step for a believer who seeks to become a disciple of Jesus Christ. The government of self has been toppled and overthrown. In its place, a new authority now reigns and rules. It is Christ, the living Lord!
Why baptism?
How does Southbridge celebrate baptism?
Our method of baptism is immersion. We feel strongly that this mode best communicates the message of baptism for several reasons:
Southbridge's baptism process:
Listen to the baptism message
Register for the next baptism by emailing southbridge@southbridgefellowship.com with the following info:
For questions, please contact our office via email or phone, [office-phone]
Sharing your story
Getting baptized is an incredible opportunity to share God’s message of love and redemption with others. To showcase what Christ has done in your life, we ask that you share your story as a public profession of your faith. Once you have listened to the baptism message and sent us your baptism registration info, a pastor will contact you to answer any questions and setup a time for you to video record your story. We will record your story via video so that you can do as many takes as necessary while sharing the message you have thoughtfully and prayerfully prepared ahead of time. Some people are nervous about taping their stories, but we work hard to make the process simple and fulfilling.
Please understand that your story does not need to be extensive and elaborate. You should be able to share your story in 2-4 minutes. We’ve provided the following outline to help you think through your story so that you will feel prepared for recording. We suggest thinking of your story in three distinct categories: