were baptized,

Every person in the local church of God has been baptised in water in the way the Bible teaches – fully immersed as believing adults, not sprinkled as babies. Baptism is not required for salvation, but that doesn’t make it optional for a disciple – it’s an important picture that demonstrates our understanding that our old life is buried (represented in the full immersion), we have been raised to live a new life in Jesus (represented in emerging from the water), and we are publically declaring our allegiance to him. In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus commanded his followers to baptise other followers, and so we love to do that!