Baptism and Membership at First Baptist Church
Baptism is required for membership at First Baptist Church. Jesus commands that all believers are to be baptized (Matthew 28:19), and disobeying this command displays a lack of submission to Christ and His church. Also, baptism is always closely connected with church membership in the NT. (Acts 2:38) Both go together, so only baptized believers are eligible to become members at First Baptist Church.
As a Baptist church, we believe that baptism is a matter of obedience. Jesus instructed his followers to baptize disciples (Matt 28:19). We baptize those who have become disciples because we want to obey Jesus. We also believe that only believers are united to the body of Christ by faith (cf. Gal 3:26-28), so only believers should be welcomed as members into the visible expression of the body of Christ, the local church. If someone is not repenting of all known sin, trusting Christ for salvation, and submitting to all his commands and teaching, we don’t welcome them into church membership. Since we view baptism as a matter of obedience, we understand unbaptized people to be disobedient on this point.
Baptists unite in the conviction that those who believe are united to Christ by faith, joined to his body by their belief in him. This spiritual union with Christ by faith is depicted in the believer’s immersion in water as a testimony that when he was “baptized” on the cross and in the tomb, he was overwhelmed by the floodwaters of God’s wrath (Mark 10:38-39). We who are united to Christ by faith are connected to him in his experience of the floodwaters of God’s wrath, which he took for us, in our place, and this is symbolized when we are buried with Christ in the baptismal waters then raised to walk in newness of life. (Colossians 2:12)
Baptism Makes one a Member at First Baptist Church
Moreover, as Baptists, we recognize that a believer must submit to all of Christ’s commandments, and church membership is a commandment. Believers are to be united to a local body where they are held accountable for the Christian walk and hold other members accountable. (Acts 20:28, Ephesians 5:21, Hebrews 10:25, Hebrews 13:17). First Baptist Church will not baptize a person who is not a member of a local body. We believe that to do so is to partake in the disobedience of that person. If a person is a member of another local body, First Baptist Church will refer that baptismal candidate to their own local body for baptism. Any person Baptised at First Baptist will, from that date on, be considered a member of First Baptist until such at time as membership is transferred, disavowed, neglected, or the person is no longer living.
The elders of First Baptist Church do take the commandment “[p]ay careful attention to [themselves] and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood” (Acts 20:28, ESV) with intent seriousness. While all believers can baptize, the normative method should be that the elders of the church administer the baptism. Any person baptized by the eldership of First Baptist Church will be considered under the pastoral care of the elders at First Baptist Church and, pursuant that care, members of the same.