Baptism

Trinity Lutheran Church is happy to arrange for the baptism of children and adults. Baptisms occur during worship services. Those interested in having their children baptized meet with a pastor prior to the baptism date. Teenagers and adults normally complete confirmation instruction prior to being baptized.

At the bottom of this page is more information about baptism. If you have additional questions, please contact our church office.

To make a request for Baptism, please click the button below.

Lutheran Christians believe what the Bible teaches -- that a person is saved by God’s grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ alone (Ephesians 2:1-10, Romans 1:16-17).

We believe that Baptism is one of the miraculous "Means of Grace" God provides to bring about such faith. We call them "Means of Grace" because they are the means God uses to bring His grace into our hearts and lives.

The Holy Spirit is promised to people in their baptisms. That same Spirit comes through the other two: The Word of God as it is heard, read or spoken and the Lord's Supper or Holy Communion.

God uses these three "Means of Grace" to create and/or strengthens the gift of faith in a person’s heart (see Acts 2:38; Acts 22:16; 1 Peter 3:21; Galatians 3:26-27; Romans 6:1-4; Colossians 2:11-12; 1 Corinthians 12:13).

The Bible tells us that such “faith comes by hearing” (Romans 10:17). Jesus Himself commands Baptism and tells us that Baptism is water used together with the Word of God (Matthew 28:16-20 and John 3:5-7).

Terms the Bible uses to talk about the beginning of faith include “conversion,” “regeneration" and being "born again." Although we do not claim to understand fully how this happens, we believe that when an infant is baptized God creates faith in the heart of that infant.

We believe this because the Bible says that infants can believe (Matthew 18:6) and that new birth (regeneration) happens in Baptism (John 3:5-7; Titus 3:5-6). The infant’s faith cannot yet, of course, be verbally expressed or articulated by the child, yet it is real and present all the same (see e.g., Acts 2:38-39; Luke 1:15; 2 Timothy 3:15).

The faith of the infant, like the faith of adults, also needs to be fed and nurtured by God’s Word (Matt. 28:18-20), or it will die.

Lutherans do not believe that only those baptized as infants receive faith. Faith can also be created in a person's heart by the power of the Holy Spirit working through God's (written or spoken) Word. At the end of Jesus' life, the thief on the cross next to him came to faith (Luke 23:34-43).

Because of Jesus' command to baptize and teach, baptism should then soon follow conversion (see Acts 8:26-40) for the purpose of confirming and strengthening faith in accordance with God's command and promise. Depending on the situation, therefore, Lutheran Christians baptize people of all ages from infancy to adulthood.

The LCMS does not believe that Baptism is ABSOLUTELY necessary for salvation. All true believers in the Old Testament era were saved without baptism. Mark 16:16 implies that it is not the absence of Baptism that condemns a person but the absence of faith, and there are clearly other ways of coming to faith by the power of the Holy Spirit (reading or hearing the Word of God).

Still, Baptism dare not be despised or willfully neglected, since it is explicitly commanded by God and has His precious promises attached to it. It is not a mere “ritual” or “symbol,” but a powerful means of grace by which God grants faith and the forgiveness of sins.