Baptism inaugurates a life of discipleship in the death and resurrection of Christ. Individuals are baptized, yet baptism forms a community. It is for children. It is for adults. It is done only once, yet it is for all of our life.
Baptism involves daily dying and rising.
Believers are at the same time sinners and justified. The baptismal life is expressed each time the baptized confess their sins and receive forgiveness. There are many ways to encourage this daily dying to sin and being raised to live before God. They include confession and absolution, the reading of the Scriptures, preaching, the mutual comfort and consolation of the sisters and brothers, daily prayer and the sign of the cross, the remembrance of the catechism, and the profession of the creed. Christians continue in the covenant God made with them in baptism by participation in the community of faith, by hearing the Word and receiving Christ's Supper, by proclaiming the good news in word and deed, and by striving for justice and peace in all the world.