You must first understand that you’re a sinner who is separated from God by your sin. You must then believe the Gospel message (Gospel = good news!) : God sent His son Jesus Christ to the world as the only perfect sacrifice to redeem humanity. Jesus lived a sinless life, willingly died for our sins and rose again on the third day - completely conquering death for all who believe in Him. You need to confess your sin to God, accept Jesus’ freely offered grace and ask Him to come into your life. Salvation is a personal experience between ourselves and God. The specific words don’t really matter - you can pray to Him in your own words. What does matter is that you say them with complete honesty, humility and a contrite heart.

Here is a short video that explains Salvation:


When a person is saved the Spirit confirms this to them from within them and the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control) will begin to grow and become visible proof to others of the Holy Spirit dwelling inside them. God completely changes us by His Spirit! We can't get there by our own works, rituals, family or good deeds. A “Christian” is not a person who said a repentance prayer or walked down an aisle or been raised in a Christian family. While each of these things can be a part of the Christian experience, they are not what makes a Christian. A Christian is a person who has repented of their sin and fully trusted in Jesus Christ as the only Saviour and therefore possesses the Holy Spirit.

"He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit" - Titus 3:5

"And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." - Ezekiel 36:26

"The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God" - Romans 8:16

If you are struggling to grasp the significance of this, just ask God to personally show you why you need His forgiveness and to give you the faith in Jesus and humility to ask for His grace. God will answer you if you ask Him! He loves you dearly and desires that everyone would be with Him forever. That's why Jesus spent His ministry teaching us about the Father’s love and gave up His life for us.

Baptism

"We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." - Romans 6:4

What is Baptism?

Water baptism is for Christians who have already been saved through trust in Jesus and desire to make that public declaration of faith. It is an outward symbol of an inward change which shows that we’ve died to ourselves and now belong to God. You are fully submerged underwater to symbolise your death with Christ on the cross and then raised up again into a new life through the Spirit and united to the Father.

Baptism is not essential to our Salvation, but Jesus and His Disciples told the Church to do this. It’s like when two people exchange rings during their marriage ceremony as a symbol of their union. The rings are not the actual marriage itself, but a symbol of it. If we take our rings off our fingers it doesn’t change our marital status; so if we are not baptised it does not take away our salvation. A Christian cannot lose their salvation. Most, if not all, of what the Bible says happens to us when we receive Christ would be invalidated if salvation could be lost. Salvation is the gift of God, and God’s gifts are “irrevocable” (Romans 11:29). A Christian cannot be un-newly created. Eternal life cannot be temporary. God cannot renege on His Word. Scripture says that God cannot lie (Titus 1:2).

Why get Baptised?

When you decide to get baptised you are telling God, people and the devil that you are serious and unashamed about following Jesus Christ for the rest of your life.