Our Calvinistic character shows most in the doctrine of salvation. We believe that God pre-destines persons to salvation and that the Holy Spirit convicts them so that they voluntarily enter the body of Christ through Baptism. The rite of Baptism is, thus, a response to what has already happened. Baptism per se does not save anyone who is not already saved in God's grace. But, since we cannot know who is saved and who is not, we baptize everyone who asks and shows willingness to belong to the church.
Baptism begins with the declaration of purpose.
We exhort them to abandon Satan and all his work and to embrace the Christian faith. We also ask the people who sponsor infants to commit to a life-long process of nurturing and educating the child in the faith. Finally, we ask the congregation to support both the person who receives baptism and also the sponsors in their commitment. Baptism is a congregational act and that is why we are not allowed to administer baptism privately. At least one elder of the church, representing the whole congregation, must be present during the administration of the Sacrament, but ideally, Baptism takes place during the Sunday morning service.