Young people, baptisms and festivals

The importance of Christian camps and festivals has been a recurring theme of young people’s baptisms as reported to The Baptist Times News Round-up
 
Meghan, Max, Dan, Sophie and Ellie highlight factors that led to their baptisms in 2024

 

"I built friendships with other Christians my age across the country”

“One major factor that led to my baptism was attending Christian summer camps throughout my teenage years, specifically Ka’zoo and Christians in Sport,” says Meghan. “These gave me the opportunity to explore what being a Christian meant and an open space to ask questions and build friendships with other Christians my age across the country.
 
“Another major factor would be being brought up in a Christian household and attending a church together - this meant I had the support and encouragement from my parents to support me in growing my faith, and a wider church family who had a big impact on me through events such as youth bible studies on a Sunday evening.
 
“And Big Church Festival (formerly Big Church Day Out) was an amazing festival that blew me away when I was worshipping with 25,000+ people who all believed in the same incredible God I do.
 
“Christians in Sport is another stand out for me as it has helped me not to just be a Christian at church on Sundays, but on the netball court too; helping me to live out my faith, to see my sport as an act of worship and an opportunity to share the gospel.”
 

“It helped me find my huge passion for the Lord”

“I felt called to being baptised after accepting Christ into my life and thinking how I could make a public declaration of my faith,” says Max.

“Some key factors that encouraged me to find this calling are, attending Tent Revival - a Christian event which really helped me find my huge passion for the Lord. Spiritual mentors also guided me towards a deeper understanding of the Lord and what it truly means to be baptised.”
 
“After being baptised I then went to Satellites. This helped me gain more knowledge about the gifts of the Spirit, where I actually encountered one in prophesy. I had a vision during worship about me going out and evangelising with the good news of Jesus Christ.”

“I was able to worship with 30,000 other Christians!”

“Growing up in a Christian home it was always on me that I would get baptised at some point,” says Dan. “I wanted to, but I didn’t quite understand just how much Jesus had done for me. It was around March 2024 where everything started to click.
 
“A big factor that helped was worship. I’ve always had an interest in music, and going to events like Big Church Festival was so powerful: it helped me find music of all genres to shape how I lived my life, for the Lord and not for the world.

“I’ve been to Big Church Festival for the last two years. I not only found new music to worship on my own but was able to worship with 30,000 other Christians!
 
“I have also been to Christians in Sport camp every year for the last four years. It introduced me to being able to do two of my favourite things; worshipping Jesus and playing sport, at the same time.”
 

“They gave me a chance to see that God is at work in our world”

“I decided to get baptised because I felt ready to make a public declaration of faith to my church, friends and family,” says Sophie.
 
“Lots of wonderful people, books and Bible studies helped me reach this decision. I started going to a Bible study with lots of other young Christians my age who also had big questions about faith. Getting the opportunity to look really in depth at God’s word was great because it helped with these difficult questions, and helped me get to know more of God’s character and his will for our lives.
 
“Going on Christian camps also helped a lot with my faith. They gave me a chance to see that God is at work in our world, and experience the Holy Spirit in powerful and exciting ways. It was also great to see lots of other young people completely on fire for Jesus.”
 

“Going to these festivals has changed how I see God, the Bible… and everything”

 “I grew up in a Christian family, but the main decision in getting baptised came through going to Christian festivals,” says Ellie. “I went to New Day at the start of the summer. New Day is a really massive Christian youth event that takes place in Norfolk. It was inspiring to see so many people my age who felt the same way I did. There are some Christians in my school, but never on that kind of scale.
 
“I then went to Wildfires, smaller but also amazing. When I came back I felt different. Going to these festivals has changed how I see God, the Bible and everything.

And I felt like God was telling me to get baptised.
 
“I was baptised in December, and since then I’ve joined a Bible study at my school, which is great. It’s with people who are passionate about their faith. I don’t think I would have been baptised if I hadn’t gone on a Christian camp.”
 

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