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BAPTISM

At Big Valley Grace Community Church, we practice baptism by immersion, which best represents the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus (Romans 6:1-5) and symbolizes the burial of the old self and the emerging of a “new creation” in our own lives as we seek to walk and grow with Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

 

Salvation is a gift that is given freely by God through the complete and atoning sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross. According to the New Testament, baptism is the first visible expression of our faith. We are compelled to be baptized because Jesus both commanded it and modeled it.

FAQS

On our Ceres Campus we offer a Kids Baptism Class designed for students. The first step is to complete the Baptism Application for age 11 and younger. For information regarding the Kid’s Baptism Class contact SharonB@bvg.org.

Individual arrangements are made for those age 12 and older who wish to be baptized. The first step is to complete the Baptism Application for Age 12 and Older. The next step is to contact TimG@bvg.org. 

After your baptism has been completed, you will receive a Baptism Certificate. In addition to our live stream, we also make video recordings of the actual gathering available for you to share with friends and family who couldn’t be there.

River baptisms are held during the summer months on Sundays at 5pm (when scheduled) in the Stanislaus River at 2601 Ladd Rd, Modesto, CA (a winding driveway) between Carver and American Ave.

Absolutely!…as long as each family member understands the meaning of baptism, and each one has personally placed his/her trust in Jesus Christ for salvation. Children under 12 are asked to complete the Kid’s Baptism Class led by BVG KIDS Ministry.

There are limitations to the amount of people we can baptize in one service, and spots will fill up quickly.

There isn’t an age minimum requirement for baptism. We don’t practice infant baptism, but believe that once a child is old enough to profess faith in Jesus Christ, they are old enough to be baptized.

 

During the Kid’s Baptism Class that is led by Kids’ Ministry, we can help assess whether or not your child is ready to be baptized.

They can watch live while the Weekend Gathering is taking place. If they are unable to do so, we provide links to the baptism portion of each gathering through our website for them to view when they are available. These are usually available sometime midweek after the Weekend Gathering.

 

This only applies to baptisms that happen in our Weekend Gatherings. We do not provide any alternative way to view river baptisms.

We provide a t-shirt to every person who is baptized, whether that is a part of our Weekend Gathering or at the river. We would encourage you to bring a pair of shorts to wear as well.

 

Bring a change of clothing, a towel, and a plastic bag for your wet clothes. Changing rooms will be provided for baptisms during the Weekend Gathering.

For those who are being baptized at the river, you will also want to bring an old pair of shoes to wear.

Unfortunately, we are not able to accommodate requests for specific pastors. Because of the large amount of people being baptized at each Weekend Gathering, we assign one pastor to baptize for that gathering.

Absolutely! While we do believe in full immersion for baptism, we would never want a physical limitation to deter someone from being baptized. Please let us know if you have any particular physical limitations on your baptism application.

Baptisms take place during our weekend gatherings, usually during the first 20-30 minutes (on the dates they are scheduled).

River baptisms take place Sunday evenings at 5pm (on the dates they are scheduled).