Baptism Sunday

This Sunday was a special one at Summit as the annual Baptisms were taking place at the church property after the service. To clarify, the church owns a farm where they have their offices and a large piece of land with some outbuildings too, where one day the church building will be built, but they currently meet in a nearby high school for worship. One of the main features of the property is the pond on the front lawn where the Baptisms take place. Before that though we had our five minutes of fame as we were invited on stage to be introduced to the congregation and prayed for during our time in Canada, and once again made to feel extremely welcome and at home. Gerry continued the preaching series on Ephesians, which focussed today on helping and encouraging the community, and particularly praying when things are going well, not just when they aren’t.

So straight after the servise, we head up to the church property for the Baptisms and everyone gathers round the pond to watch the full immersions. Each candidate steps up to the mic and shares their testimony before going into the water. I knew most of these stories as I had been involved earlier in the week in reading them, whilst helping the candidates prepare. They are guided round a structure of life before Christ, what Christ has done/meant to them , life since knowing Christ and why they are presenting themselves for Baptism. It was a great encouragement to hear these testimonies and watch the baptisms take place with various pastors on the staff baptising various candidates. As they come out of the water, each person is wrapped in a towel baring the church’s name , to keep as a memory of the occasion. There were also some candidates who just couldn’t work around the timing, so there will be another baptism day in the autumn (or I suppose I should say the fall).

Following the baptisms, there was, yes you guessed it, a BBQ and fellowship. After which we came home via Wal-Mart for some essentials, and the gas station to fill up for the first time (much cheaper than home, equivalent of about 70p/litre = VERY HAPPY MIKE!!!). We spent the afternoon in garden and even ate outside, before putting two very tired children to bed. Then after some dishes, I retreated back to the garden with the laptop and a beer to write some post for the blog and my placement diary. Check out my glass, I suppose this is what they mean by having a "couple o jars" I could get used to this lifestyle!!