Baptism

For information on baptism at St. Mark’s United Church, please contact our minister, the Rev. Dr. Steven Davis at info@stmarkswhitby.ca or call the church office at 905-668-3091 ext. 0.

BAPTISM:  WHAT IS IT?  WHY DO IT? 

Baptism is not just a religious gesture, nor a social obligation.  It is an act of worship by which the church receives your child into its fellowship to begin his or her Christian faith journey.  Baptism will make your child a member of the Christian church and commits him or her to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, sharing in His mission of justice and peace and also in His suffering.  This is not done alone, however, but in partnership with a particular denomination of Christians (e.g., The United Church of Canada), and with a local congregation (e.g., St. Mark’s).

By requesting that your child be baptized, you are asking that the church receive your child into its care.  You are acknowledging the claim of Jesus Christ on your child and on you as parents.

Baptism is about belonging.  When your child is baptized, he or she is accepted by the church as a newcomer into Christian fellowship.

Baptism is not magic!  It is not a “spiritual inoculation” that protects your child from mysterious and unknown evils.  Rather, baptism is the way in which the church receives people into its care and fellowship.  Baptism is the main symbol to mark the initiation of a person as a Christian.  Your child will be baptized not into a particular denomination or local congregation only, but into the worldwide church of Jesus Christ.