A VERY SPECIAL DAY AT LAWN COMMUNITY CHURCH

It was a very special day at our church today because we had a wonderful service when three people, Garry, Nathan and Karen, were baptised - and if you thought that baptism was just for babies and young children, then that is not the case in a Baptist Church.  

As Susan explained in the service, Infant Baptism is something that is done “to” babies, and those bringing the child make promises on its behalf, but Believer’s Baptism is something that happens when people decide to make a public profession of their faith in Jesus, make their own promises and are then baptised by full immersion, which means they go “right under” the water - just like Jesus did.  The difference though is that the three who were baptised today weren’t baptised in a river, but in a baptismal pool made by some of our own members a few years ago.

Lawn Community Church is a Baptist Church but as we worship in a Community Centre, we have no Baptistry so one of our members found a template for a portable Baptistry, then made it, with help from some other members, and it’s not only been used in our own church, but in other churches too, where people have expressed a desire to be baptised by full immersion. This signifies dying with Christ and then being raised to new life, which was the subject of Keith’s sermon after the baptisms had taken place.

The collage shows Garry, with Keith and Stephen - just after he had been baptised.  They were praying for him at this point - sadly I couldn’t get any nearer, and didn’t want to move to get a better shot, because there were so many others taking photographs.  

The top right photograph shows Susan and Rachel as they are actually baptising Karen, then the bottom left shows them and Karen with a wonderful smile on her face, as she has just been baptised and again, being prayed for. 

The bottom right photograph shows Nathan, again with a great look on his face, having been baptised by John and Frank and just as they were about to pray for him. 

After the service, which was packed with family and friends of all those being baptised, we had coffee and cake - and we also celebrated the 21st birthday of Lucy, Nathan’s daughter with a large birthday cake!  The cake in the middle of the collage was made especially for Garry at a Chinese bakery and it was wonderful, topped with fresh fruit.  It just had Garry’s name on originally, but I’m sure in the circumstances, as three of them were baptised, he won’t mind that I “doctored” it a little to celebrate not only his new life but also the new life of Nathan and Karen.

By our baptism, then, we were buried with him 
     and shared his death, in order that, 
          just as Christ was raised from death 
               by the glorious power of the Father, 
                    so also we might live a new life.
Romans 6:4
Good News Bible