Knowra Believer's baptism Believer's baptism Believer's baptism is the Christian practice of baptizing people after they personally profess faith, rather than baptizing infants. It commonly signifies repentance, faith, and entry into the Christian community.
Baptism : A Christian rite involving water that signifies participation in the faith and, in many traditions, entry into the church. Believer's baptism is one way Christians understand and practice this broader rite.
Infant baptism : The Christian practice of baptizing infants before they can make a personal profession of faith. It is the principal alternative against which believer's baptism is distinguished.
Didache : An early Christian manual, probably composed around the late first or early second century, containing teaching on baptism and communal life. Its instructions describe baptism following teaching, while allowing practical adaptations.
Baptist : A Protestant Christian tradition whose churches characteristically baptize people after a personal profession of faith. Baptist churches make this practice a central marker of church identity.
Christian initiation : The process by which a person is incorporated into Christian life and community through rites, teaching, and profession of faith. The practice links personal profession of faith with public incorporation into a congregation.
Paedobaptism : The theological position that infants of Christian households may appropriately receive baptism. Paedobaptist churches understand baptism and household membership differently from believer-baptizing churches.
Tertullian : A Christian author of the late second and early third centuries who wrote extensively on theology and church practice. His treatise On Baptism advises delaying baptism, including for young children.
Church of Christ : A Christian movement in the Stone-Campbell tradition that practices baptism of confessing believers, typically by immersion. Many congregations connect baptism closely with conversion and remission of sins.
Christian conversion : A person's turning toward Christian faith, whether as a sudden change or a gradual process. A personal conversion or profession commonly precedes baptism in this practice.
Credobaptism : The position that baptism should follow a person's credible profession of Christian faith. This theological term names the principle underlying believer's baptism.
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