Section 1. General Statement.  

There are two ordinances of special significance which our Lord has commanded us to observe, namely, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. (These are sometimes referred to as “sacraments.”) Neither of them has saving merit, nor is any grace imparted to the recipient through the water of Baptism or the bread and the cup of the Supper. These ordinances are not means of “special grace,” but they are “special means of grace” and powerful aids to the faith of the believers who participate in them. 

Section 2. Baptism.  

Only confessed disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ are proper candidates for baptism, and all such persons should be baptized (Acts 2:38). The proper mode of baptism is a single immersion in water and “into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). Believing that baptism is the God-ordained door of the entrance into the visible community of the people of God, we shall receive into the membership of the church only those who have been baptized on profession of their faith and who meet the requirements of Article V, Section 1. Under unusual circumstances and at the discretion of the elders, we may receive those who have been baptized as a believer by a mode other than immersion. 

Section 3. The Lord’s Supper. 

Whereas baptism is the initiatory ordinance by which one enters the visible church and should be observed only once by each believer, the Lord’s supper should be celebrated frequently by the assembled church (1 Corinthians 11:26). While this is a most holy ordinance and should be observed with solemnity and dignity, the bread and the cup of supper are and remain only symbols of the broken body and the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord’s supper shall, under normal circumstances, be celebrated by the church on the first Lord’s day of each month. Except under unusual circumstances, those who partake of the Lord’s supper should be baptized and members in good standing of a local church.