Jesus’s Great Commission centers upon making disciples of all peoples, which means baptizing new disciples from those peoples and teaching them to obey all that Jesus has commanded. Given the fundamental role of baptism in the Great Commission, whatever role that missionaries or missionary support personnel may carry out in the church’s Great Commission obedience—church planter, theological educator, Bible translator, aviator, etc.—they must thoroughly understand biblical teaching on baptism.

This two-article series anchors missions firmly in Scripture in order to deal rightly with the crucial topic of baptism. The scriptural anchor for missions must hold fast amidst a storm of conflicting denominational doctrines, missionary organization policies, and pragmatic considerations. Confusion and discord among new churches on the mission field is the inevitable result of paying primary attention to powerful but quite-fallible influences such as these rather than the Bible. Thus, this first article attempts to dispel confusion by applying the infallible Word of God, interpreted accurately, to baptism. Baptism is a fundamental element of the Great Commission: not the sign of the new covenant, but a sign of faith in Christ. With this crucial biblical foundation in place, the second article will then develop a practical biblical theology of baptism to put into action as the church obeys Jesus’s Great Commission.