Please, I would like to know whether I can be able to baptize some new converts I have won to the LORD's side. Since I am not an ordained pastor can I go ahead and do so?
Baptism is an act of obedience and a public expression faith in the resurrection of Christ, but is not a condition of salvation itself. It is the expression of salvation already accepted by faith. The baptizer must be given the authority to baptize directly by Jesus Christ himself. Ordination and apostolic succession do not guarantee valid authority to baptize.
The only way to acquire the authority to baptize is to receive the commission directly from Jesus Christ. There is altogether too much usurping of the authority of Christ on the part of people who claim authority by ordination and some kind of apostolic succession. Such people bind the consciences of believers to themselves and take away their loyalty to Christ the king.
"Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:18-20).
The only way we have today of receiving the commission directly from Christ is in the formation of a Gospel ecclesia or church. That requires two or three people who gather in the name of Christ, solemnly aware of his personal presence among them. When they are agreed that Christ has designated one among them to baptize, then by the laying on of hands and prayer they may dedicate that person to the office of elder or deacon among them. Christ himself is present to give the commission.
The church is a valid church of Christ only when gathered in the name of Jesus, and Jesus is only present in such a body. The entire group must be submitted to the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. It is not enough just to get together and claim to be a church of Christ. The church or ecclesia, that is the group of called out ones, represents the kingdom of God on earth. That kingdom has a law and a king. Without that law and king, the group is not part of the kingdom of God. When the proper conditions are met, Christ himself founds the church. No merely human founding or ordination is valid.
It is a wonderful thing that God has used you to bring faith in Christ to others. But you should not assume that you have the right to baptize them at this point. You should gather these people as a home church where Christ is present and follow the leading of Christ to commission an elder and deacon to serve in that capacity. It may be that you will find that Christ is calling you to that service, or it may be someone else. He will speak directly to the gathered congregation and make his will clear.
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