Baptism

Six pages · Uniting

Baptism in the Uniting Church

The Uniting Church in Australia baptises people who confess the Christian faith themselves, and children presented for baptism by their parents or guardians. Its founding document, the Basis of Union, says that Christ “incorporates people into his body by Baptism”.

General information from the Uniting Church’s own pages. The church’s Find your church page links to congregations by state.

Where the words come from

The Uniting Church in Australia was formed in 1977, when three denominations joined, the church’s national Assembly writes, and the Basis of Union is the document that set out how they would come together. The Assembly says it states “the central affirmations of the Christian faith” and guides the church on what matters most in its life.

The three, as the Basis names them in its opening, were the Presbyterian Church of Australia, the Methodist Church of Australasia and the Congregational Union of Australia. The text used here is the revised 1992 edition the Assembly publishes; its page notes that the headings were added for ease of reference and are not part of the Basis as the churches approved it.

A drop of water falling towards still water, rings of ripples spreading out below it, in black and white.
A drop falls, and the rings spread. Photo by ClaudiaWollesen on Pixabay.

The Basis on baptism, passage by passage

Four points the Basis makes, in this guide’s words with its key terms kept, each beside a note from the Uniting Church’s own description of its faith.

  1. Christ commanded his Church to proclaim the Gospel in what it says, and through two visible acts: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

    From the Basis of Union, in this guide’s words

    Two sacramentsThe church’s Our faith page calls Baptism “the first of two Sacraments the Uniting Church celebrates”, and Holy Communion the other, which may also be called “The Eucharist” or “The Lord’s Supper”.

  2. Christ “incorporates people into his body by Baptism”.

    From the Basis of Union, in this guide’s words

    One bodyThe Our faith page describes Baptism as a sign of new life through Jesus, which unites us with Christ and with the people of God.

  3. Baptism into Christ’s body begins a person’s share in “Christ’s life and mission in the world”, uniting the baptised in one fellowship of love, service, suffering and joy.

    From the Basis of Union, in this guide’s words

    A beginningThe same page calls Baptism the initiation into the way of life Jesus taught and the Church practises.

  4. The church will baptise “those who confess the Christian faith”, and also children presented for baptism, taking responsibility for their instruction and nourishment in the faith.

    From the Basis of Union, in this guide’s words

    Two ways inThe Our faith page says the church baptises those who confess the Christian faith themselves, and those presented for Baptism “by parents or guardians”.

Adults and children, one baptism

The last point holds both together: an adult who confesses the faith, and a child brought by a parent or guardian, for whose instruction in the faith “the Church takes responsibility”.

Two ways to baptism in the Uniting Church Two lines meet at one circle. One line is labelled: those who confess the Christian faith themselves. The other: those presented for baptism by parents or guardians. The circle is labelled Baptism. Baptism those who confess the Christian faith themselves those presented by parents or guardians then, for those baptised as children, Confirmation

The labels are the Uniting Church’s own words, from its Our faith page.

Confirmation

The Our faith page describes Confirmation as a chance for people baptised as infants or children to reaffirm their faith as adults, having decided to continue “in the way of Jesus”. The Basis puts it as a commitment: the church will seek ways for the baptised to have “the promises of God” confirmed to them, and to be led to a deeper commitment to the faith and service they were baptised into.

The Basis also leaves a question open on purpose: the church commits itself to work with other Christians on how baptism relates to confirmation and to taking part in Holy Communion.

Membership and the table

After union, the Basis says, membership is open to everyone baptised into the “Holy Catholic Church” in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

As set out by the Uniting Church in Australia, Basis of Union, under Members

“Holy Catholic Church” is the Basis’s own term. Its opening places the Uniting Church’s life and work inside the faith and unity of “the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church”.

Baptism also matters at Holy Communion. The Our faith page describes “an open table”, where any baptised believer in Christ is welcome.

Finding a congregation

The Assembly says more than 2,500 congregations worship at a Uniting Church on any Sunday, many of them in languages other than English. Its Find your church page links to congregations state by state. The Assembly’s pages used here describe what baptism is, not how a congregation prepares for one; the page on arranging a baptism collects what the churches’ pages say about first steps.

See also godparents and sponsors and believers’ baptism and immersion. Back to all six pages or the words each church uses.