David Kim · August 2026

Why we baptize by immersion

Every few months somebody asks me why we dunk people. It's a fair question, and the answer is less dramatic than you might expect.

The Greek word behind our English "baptize" means to plunge or immerse. When Paul writes in Romans 6 about being buried with Christ and raised with him, the picture only really works if you go under and come back up. So we do the thing the word describes, and we let the picture preach.

What I want to say just as loudly is that we don't think people baptized another way are missing something. Half the people in this church were baptized as infants in a tradition that meant it sincerely, and we don't ask them to do it again. If they want to, we will. If they don't, they're every bit as much a part of this family.

There are hills worth dying on. The mode of baptism is a hill worth explaining clearly and then walking down from.

Our next Baptism Sunday is September 21. There's no class and no form — just come and talk to me.