¶714.2 Affirmation of Baptismal Vows
Dear friends in Christ, in your infancy your parents presented you at the altar of the church for the Sacrament of Baptism. That service was one of both dedication and consecration. Your parents dedicated you to the Lord and took vows on your behalf. They promised to teach you from the Word of God and to train you in the way that you should go. God in His goodness has brought you to years of responsibility, and you now desire to acknowledge before God and His church the covenant then made on your behalf, to profess your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, to consecrate yourself to Him, and thereby to bind yourself anew to His service.
Our Lord Jesus Christ has said, “So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven.”
Let us repeat the words of the Apostle’s Creed (together)
The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and was buried; He descended into Hades; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
1. Do you believe these things?
Answer: All these things I firmly believe.
2. Do you promise with the aid of the Holy Spirit to be Christ’s faithful disciple to your life’s end?
Answer: I do.
3. Have you read and considered the vows taken for you in baptism, and do you affirm them with a humble and contrite heart, putting your whole trust in the mercy of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord?
Answer: I do.
4. Do you promise to make diligent use of the means of grace, to share faithfully in the worship and service of the church, to give of your substance as the Lord may prosper you, and to give your whole heart to the service of Christ and His kingdom throughout the world?
Answer: I do.
(Here may follow a benediction if the service is ending.)
