Baptism Sundays are usually the first Sunday of the month and are always a special time in the life of Westwood Church! We believe baptism is a sign and seal of God’s covenant promises to His covenant people. It is a visible representation of an invisible reality that is carried out by God’s grace, and its most basic meaning has to do with our connection to the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is a powerful testament to God’s grace and work in our lives!
Infant Baptism
We believe that baptism is a sign and seal of the New Covenant relationship that God has established with us through Jesus in a similar manner to the way in which circumcision was a sign and seal of what we know as the Old Covenant relationship that God established with his people, Israel. That covenant sign and seal was given to those within the family of God who could receive it when they were only eight days old. For that reason, we baptize infants whose parents are part of the family of God upon their request. And because we want to take seriously the human promises that are part of baptism (parents and church) we ask that parents be members of Westwood before requesting baptism for their child.
Believer’s Baptism
Because baptism is the outward sign of entrance into the community of faith, we love having the occasion to baptize a person who comes to faith later in life. Whenever someone who was not baptized earlier in life comes to the point of entrusting their lives to the care and leadership of Jesus, we publicly celebrate this personal faith through baptism! Sometimes that is someone who grew up in church but was not baptized as an infant, and sometimes it is someone who came to faith altogether later in life, but whenever someone personally commits their life to Jesus, we invite the whole church to praise God for it! While we do not “re-baptize” people we do make space for publicly proclaiming a personal faith in Jesus.
If you would like to request Baptism for yourself or a little one, click the button below to provide the needed information: