What do Baptists Believe about Baptism and the Lord's Supper?

It's pretty obvious that baptism is a pretty big deal for Baptists.

Baptism in the early church was done by immersion. In the New Testament, the word for "baptize" literally means "to immerse." Somewhere along the lines of church history, the Catholic church dominated Christendom, and the Catholics believed in infant baptism. In the 1500s when people began to resist the Catholic church in the Protestant Reformation, the first group to deny Catholics continued to practice infant baptism. These are what we know today as Lutherans and Presbyterians. In Switzerland, the Reformers led the government, specifically a reformer named Ulrich Zwingli. Some of his students, Conrad Grebel and Felix Manz, began to dispute Zwingli in a couple of issues, one being infant baptism. These would be the first anabaptists, and their beliefs led to severe persecution. After they began baptizing adults, they were punished by law, and Manz was drowned.

The idea between infant baptism and adult baptism is still a difficult issue among denominations today. There are still many groups and churches who practice infant baptism, others who aren't baptists who practice believer's baptism, and yet others who practice both. There are some who sprinkle for baptism and some who immerse.

From the Baptist Faith and Message:

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord's Supper.

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
We do this by immersion because we see baptism by immersion as the precedent set forth in Scripture. Also, the original Greek word for baptism, baptizo, literally means "to immerse." We baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit because that is what Jesus commanded in the Great Commission (Mt. 28:18-20).

Baptism is an act of obedience.
Jesus was baptized by John to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:13-17). Jesus is our example. The early church throughout the book of Acts associated believing in Christ with baptism (Acts 2:41-42; 8:35-39; 16:30-33).

Baptism symbolizes the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:3-5 states, "Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Hm in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection..."

Baptism is a testimony to a new believer's faith in the final resurrection of the dead.
Phil. 3:8-11, "More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."

One must be baptized before becoming a church member.
Because baptism is one of the first public confessions of faith, one's first testimony to what Christ has done in his life, a person must be baptized before he is admitted to the church. If a person is admitted to the church without having gone through this public confession and testimony, then it is possible the person does not know what Christ has done for him, and really is not saved. On the same coin, many people are baptized just to become members of the church, and they have not really repented and put all faith in Christ, yet they have been baptized. We must be careful to only let those who show fruits of salvation enter the waters of baptism, in which they identify directly with Christ. We must also be careful who we allow to become members of our church.

One must be baptized before taking the Lord's Supper.
Likewise, a person cannot remember the body and blood of Christ unless he does not know Christ personally.

From The Baptist Faith and Message:

The Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.

The Lord's Supper is symbolic.
There are several streams of Christianity that believe partaking in the Lord's Supper helps bring them sanctification, helps them gain holiness, or even salvation. This believe is never seen in Scripture, as Jesus always says to partake in the Lord's Supper "in remembrance" and never hints that one will gain holiness because he has fulfilled the step of taking the Lord's Supper.

The Lord's Supper is a time of fellowship for the church.
1 Cor. 10:16-17, "Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread."

Luke 22:19-20, "And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood."

Only those that live holy lives reflecting that of Jesus should memorialize the death of the Redeemer.
1 Cor. 11:27-29, "Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. "

When we take the Lord's Supper, we are in essence proclaiming the gospel. We are to do this as we anticipate the Lord's second coming, when he will usher in a new kingdom, holy for the Lord.
1 Cor. 11:26, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes."