The weekend before last I was back at the first church I pastored, in Barnet. I was there to take their anniversary services and also I had the privilege of performing a baptism. Let me explain that in baptist churches we don't baptise babies. Instead we wait for a person to make their own decision about their faith, so we baptise believers. Some call what we do adult baptism but that isn't really right. The requisite for baptism is not that you attain a certain age, but that you believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and who died for your sins. So it's believers' baptism.
But back to the Sunday. It was a great time and as I knew the person being baptised, it was even more special. He had started coming to the church when I was Pastor but had only just recently decided he wanted to be baptised.
Also special was I was able to use the new baptismal pool. As we baptise "by immersion" we need a reasonable sized pool. Unfortunately (believe it or not!), when they built the Baptist church, they didn't plan in a baptistery! So it was a kind of afterthought, very small and shallow and with a sort of step ladder to get in.
Although the new pool was being installed when I left the church, it wasn't until last week I was able to use it. The picture shows a number of us ten years ago manhandling the new pool into the church! The picture comes from the church website http://www.underhillbc.org.uk/ .
So, thank you to the church for making us so welcome and we pray many more baptisms in the future!
But back to the Sunday. It was a great time and as I knew the person being baptised, it was even more special. He had started coming to the church when I was Pastor but had only just recently decided he wanted to be baptised.
Also special was I was able to use the new baptismal pool. As we baptise "by immersion" we need a reasonable sized pool. Unfortunately (believe it or not!), when they built the Baptist church, they didn't plan in a baptistery! So it was a kind of afterthought, very small and shallow and with a sort of step ladder to get in.
Although the new pool was being installed when I left the church, it wasn't until last week I was able to use it. The picture shows a number of us ten years ago manhandling the new pool into the church! The picture comes from the church website http://www.underhillbc.org.uk/ .
So, thank you to the church for making us so welcome and we pray many more baptisms in the future!
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