Ask Us

In 1976, Church leaders instituted the requirement that all baptisms include two witnesses that hold the Melchizedek Priesthood.

There is no clear documentation for the early inclusion of witnesses for baptisms for the living. The practice appears to have begun between 1842 and 1850 as an extension of a requirement designated for baptisms for the dead. As Joseph Smith explained, two or three witnesses were required to complete the ordinance of baptisms for the dead (D&C 128:3). Through the early years of the Church, and for most of the twentieth century, liturgical witnesses for baptisms for the living were not uncommon and did not have to be ordained (some were even women), but nothing indicates that witnesses were required for living baptism ordinances. In fact, in a 1908 article titled Seventy's Council Table (814) for The Improvement Era, B. H. Roberts stated, “We know of nothing in the written word that positively asserts that it is necessary to have witnesses to ordinary baptisms of the living.” This position on the practice changed in 1976.

On Oct 2, 2019 the First Presidency announced the policy change that "any baptized member of the Church, including children and youth, may serve as a witness to the baptism of a living person (see Handbook I: Stake Presidents and Bishops, 16.1.1)