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In the Reformed tradition, [[Presbyterian]] and others that hold to the [[Westminster Confession of Faith]], baptism is rightly administered to believing adults and the children of a believer, for a public confession and as a sign and seal of God's Covenant of [[Grace]]. <ref name="WCF"> The Westminster Confession of Faith for study classes by G.I.Williamson, 1964, pp207ff </ref> It is properly administered by dipping, sprinkling or pouring, but is not essential for salvation. <ref name="WCF"/> Prominent past theologians have taught this doctrine such as John Calvin <ref> Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin, 1536, trans. 1989, pp.512ff</ref>, as well as contemporary teachers such as R.C.Sproul <ref> Now, That's a Good Question!, R.C.Sproul, 1996, p124-5, 339-342,</ref>
In the Reformed tradition, [[Presbyterian]] and others that hold to the [[Westminster Confession of Faith]], baptism is rightly administered to believing adults and the children of a believer, for a public confession and as a sign and seal of God's Covenant of [[Grace]]. <ref name="WCF"> The Westminster Confession of Faith for study classes by G.I.Williamson, 1964, pp207ff </ref> It is properly administered by dipping, sprinkling or pouring, but is not essential for salvation. <ref name="WCF"/> Prominent past theologians have taught this doctrine such as John Calvin <ref> Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin, 1536, trans. 1989, pp.512ff</ref>, as well as contemporary teachers such as R.C.Sproul <ref> Now, That's a Good Question!, R.C.Sproul, 1996, p124-5, 339-342,</ref>
Among those typically identified with the [[Restoration Movement]] (seen by it's adherents as a "restoration" to first century Christianity), it is widely held that baptism is necessary in establishing a relationship with God. They practice baptism by full immersion in water, usually accompanied by an audible confession of faith. Such hold it evident that in first century Christianity, as recorded in the book of Acts, baptism was ubiquitous. ''Of the eleven major conversion accounts in Acts, baptism is explicitly included in ten and never excluded (either explicitly or implicitly).'' Furthermore, that biblical accounts of baptism with some degree of detail have often included phrases specifying the person(s) as going into or coming up out of water. This, along with biblical comparison of baptism to burial, is part of their evidence that the early Church practiced full immersion; as per the definition found in "Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words"; which reads in part; "''consisting of the processes of immersion, submersion and emergence.''" In this context, baptism is viewed as an act of faith, where one becomes "dead to sin" and is raised to "walk in newness of life" by [[Divine Grace]]; rather than as a work of self-righteousness. Infant baptism is not practiced among "Restoration" churches, since they believe infants to be sinless until reaching an age of accountability for one's own sin.