Is Baptism sufficient for salvation?
No. Baptized children should be nurtured and led to personal acceptance of Christ, and by profession of faith confirm their Baptism.
Catechism for the Global Methodist Church, question 42
20When your son asks you tomorrow, saying, "What are the testimonies and the statutes and the judgments that the LORD our God commanded you?" 21then you shall say to your son, "We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the LORD brought us out from Egypt with a strong hand. 22And the LORD gave signs and great and harmful wonders in Egypt, against Pharaoh and against all his house, before our eyes. 23And he brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land that he swore to our fathers. 24And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for good for us all the days, to keep us alive, as it is this day. 25And it shall be righteousness for us if we are careful to do all this commandment before the LORD our God, just as he commanded us.
16The one who believes and is baptized will be saved, but the one who disbelieves will be condemned.
12But to all who did receive him, to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
16For God so loved the world that he gave the unique son, in order that everyone who trusts in him should not perish but have eternal life.
38And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
29He called for lights, rushed in, and trembling fell down before Paul and Silas. 30Then he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 31They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." 32They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33He took them at that hour of the night and washed their wounds; then he and all his household were baptized at once. 34He brought them up into his house, set food before them, and rejoiced with his whole household because he had believed in God.
9That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and trust in your heart that God raised him out from the dead, you will be saved. 10For with the heart one believes resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses resulting in salvation. 11For the writing says, "Everyone who trusts upon him will not be dishonored."
Baptism by itself does not save. A baptized child still needs a faith of his own, and Article VI of the Confession of Faith says how that faith is to come: children of believing parents "should be nurtured and led to personal acceptance of Christ, and by profession of faith confirm their Baptism." Baptism begins a life in the household of faith; it does not finish it. ΒΆ102 of the Book of Doctrines and Discipline teaches that salvation "is available to all humanity by grace through faith," and faith must at some point become the person's own.
Baptism and faith belong together in Scripture. Jesus says, "The one who believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mark 16:16). John writes that "to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12), and that God gave his Son "in order that everyone who trusts in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). Peter preached repentance at Pentecost: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you" (Acts 2:38). When the Philippian jailer asked what he must do to be saved, he was told, "Believe in the Lord Jesus" (Acts 16:31), and his household was baptized that same night. Paul wrote that "with the heart one believes resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses resulting in salvation" (Romans 10:10).
The nurture happens at home and in the congregation. "When your son asks you tomorrow," Moses says, the parent is to tell the story of God's deliverance from Egypt, "as it is this day" (Deuteronomy 6:20, 24). John Wesley taught that the grace given in infant baptism can be neglected and lost, and that a person baptized as a child still needs the new birth and a living faith of his own. Confirmation exists for this reason. A baptized person stands and professes, in the first person, the faith the congregation professed on that person's behalf.
Methodist parents and congregations have a task. A baptized child is to be taught the scriptures and brought to worship until the day that child says "I believe" and confirms the baptism. Article VI calls this the church's "special responsibility," and this catechism is one of the tools for carrying it out.