How to Become a Christian

The Christian Church holds fast to the truth that salvation through the blood of Jesus’ sacrifice is for anyone who may come to Him in faith, not just to a select few (John 3:16; Acts 2:38).

The Bible teaches a reasonable way to accept the forgiveness provided by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. The scriptures do not teach us to look for signs, listen for strange voices, or expect a certain feeling to know that we can be saved. God made it so plain that anyone could understand how to become a Christian.

The Bible teaches that we all decide at one time or another to disobey God, this is sin (Romans 3:23). Just one sin causes us to be sinners and therefore we are eternally doomed to hell as punishment for our sin. We could never be good enough or do enough good things to be accepted by a holy and righteous God. God knew that we would disobey Him before He created us. From the very beginning of creation God had a plan to have our sins forgiven to bring us back into fellowship with Him. Because of His love for us, God began to reveal in the Old Testament that there had to be the shedding of blood for sins to be forgiven. You can see this displayed in the teaching of animal sacrifices. This was not God’s ultimate plan. He was pointing man to the coming perfect sacrifice of His son-Jesus Christ. The Old Testament taught us what sin was, our sinfulness, our need to be forgiven, and prophesied Jesus’ coming and death to remove our sin problem.

Our only hope is in Jesus. Praise God, He’s all we need (Romans 6:23)!

By faith we accept what Jesus did for us at Calvary and we know that we are forgiven (Ephesians 2:8, 9). Accepting Jesus by faith begins by BELIEVING. We must believe that Jesus is God’s Son and has redeemed us by the shedding of His blood (John 3:16; Acts 16:31). You must be willing to REPENT. Repentance is the recognition that you are a sinner and that you are willing to turn your life toward God (Acts 2:38; 3:19; 2 Peter 3:9). A person must be willing to CONFESS Christ as their savior (Romans 10:10; Matthew 10:32; 16:16). Then a person is to be BAPTIZED into Christ (Acts 2:38; Romans 6:3-4; Colossians 2:12; Galatians 3:27; 1 Peter 3:21). If a person follows these steps in faith with a sincere heart they can KNOW that they are saved. Other examples can be found in Acts 2:38-41; 8:26-39; 16:30-34; 18:8; 22:6-16.

The only baptism that the Christian Church practices is that of immersion. The word used for baptism in the New Testament literally means “to plunge, or to immerse.” It was centuries after the establishment of the Church in the Book of Acts that sprinkling or pouring was used in the Church. We do not believe in “Water Salvation” or “Baptismal Regeneration.” Only the blood of Jesus saves. Immersion is the reenactment of how we are saved, through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In baptism a “new person” comes forth, born again to serve God through Christ.

The Christian Church will also baptize any person who so desires who comes in faith to God. We do not stand in judgment of whoever desires to follow the Lord’s example of being immersed. The person does have to be capable of faith. Therefore, we do not practice infant baptism.

We rejoice with you in your decision to follow Christ. If you have any questions or would like to discuss this decision further with someone, please call our church office.