The word "baptism" comes from a Greek word "$"BJ4Ho" (baptiso) which means "to dip in or under water, to immerse or submerge". So the origin of the word gives a clue to how a person should be baptised. Baptism is by immersion.

In being baptised believers are identified with the Lord Jesus Christ in what he did to bring about our salvation. The Apostle Paul tells us "that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3,4). These great facts are clearly demonstrated in the ceremony of baptism. Going down into the water symbolises death. Going under the water shows that we have been "buried with him through baptism into death". Coming up out of the water is a picture of resurrection, "in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life" (Romans 6:4).

• Baptism is by immersion, given the meaning of the word and the symbolism being portrayed.