Baptism is the outward expression of an inward faith, a sign of joining the (worldwide) church. It is a chance to ‘go public’ about the decision to start a lifelong journey following Christ.  

Baptism has been central to the practice of the church right from its start e.g. Peter’s instructions on the Day of Pentecost were "Repent and be baptised" (Acts 2:38). Jesus himself was baptised and set the model for us.

At Open Heaven, we do baptisms by full immersion as this was the normal mode of baptising in the New Testament (the actual word ‘baptise’ means to 'dunk'). There is also great symbolism is full immersion baptism – a dying to past and sin, being buried with Christ, rising again with him out of the waters into a new life (Rom 6:4), or being washed clean (Acts 22:16).

Practical Details
We tend to have one baptism meeting per term. At these there is a chance for the people being baptised to share their testimonies. The person preparing the talk (i.e. the preacher) for that meeting will usually bear in mind that non-Open Heaven people will be present so that they can make the talk accessible to them.

The actual baptism follows at the end of the meeting in one of two possible locations.

1. Elim Church Centre 
Elim is another local church that we have strong links with - they kindly let us use their baptistry (see top)

2. Burleigh College Swimming Pool
Sometimes we hire out a local swimming pool. On occasions that we do this, we encourage people to bring their trunks / costumes (and a towl) so that we can go for a short swim afterwards.

The next baptism meeting is 3rd Dec starting at 3:30pm in Room 1.