Baptism & Membership

To find out how to get baptised or become a member of Watermark, please contact hello@watermarkchurch.hk.

Baptism

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Matt. 28:19)

Baptism was experienced and commanded by Jesus (Luke 3:21-22; Matt. 28:19), and also practiced by the Church (Acts 2:38-41).

The English word “baptism” is a transliteration of the Greek word “baptizo.” The word means “to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge.” In New Testament times, the word most commonly evoked the thought of something being identified with the thing into which it is dipped. For example, a cloth dipped into a vat of dye became coloured with that dye.

Water baptism is an external validation of an internal reality. Christian baptism is the act of identifying with Jesus Christ.

Membership

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body though many are one body, so it is with Christ. (1 Cor. 12:12)

A Watermark member is a person who is committed to following Jesus through the Watermark family by loving God, one another and the world we’re called to reach.

We live in a society that promotes consumerism, personal autonomy, and low commitment. Membership of a club in Hong Kong involves paying a fee to be entitled to certain perks and benefits which are expendable if a better option comes along. This is not what church membership means.

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul says that we are members of the body of Christ and each one of us has a vital part to play. That is, we are intrinsically interconnected just as in the human body. If one part suffers, every part does; if one part rejoices, all rejoice. A disconnected hand will suffer and die, so a disconnected member of the church will also suffer and wilt spiritually.

So, we are not consumers, but servants, providing God’s love and care to each other. We are not independent, but vitally connected to each other, as an eye is to the hand. We don’t keep our options open, but plug in and commit, for it is only here that we express our family identity in Jesus most fully.