Two churches, two congregations, two candidates

A baptism brings people together building God’s kingdom. By Jutta Cowie

I started my journey with Emersons Green Baptist Church in Bristol as their Minister in Training last year in September. Little did I know what God had in store for all of us.

Our first big celebration as a church was my induction service which was a great community event. Shortly after that, we had a new couple come to the Sunday service. Afterwards when they started to come regularly and I got to know Ali, she expressed her interest in being baptised, and if it would be possible.

‘Sure,’ I answered that it would be possible, but I also knew that there were hurdles to jump over.  

Firstly, Emersons Green Baptist Church meets in the local village hall, and does not have the facilities to carry out adult baptisms. I thought of hiring a baptistery for the day, but I was too nervous that the pool would burst and the village hall floor would be underwater. Also, I had no idea how to get the water out of the pool.

So I thought of a Baptist church close to us, namely Downend Baptist Church.

Secondly, would Downend Baptist Church allow us to use their baptistery? I approached David Quintin from Downend Baptist Church and we talked about the idea of holding the baptism service there, maybe in the afternoon. David said they might have a candidate as well who showed interest. We prayed about it and dreamt of how great a service together would be.

After both candidates agreed it would be wonderful to be baptised in the same service, David and I started to plan together. At first, we even thought about holding baptismal classes together, but after some consideration, we realised this was not feasible.

As I wanted some guidance for the preparation ‘classes’, I ordered the Baptist Union's Making a Splash booklet and used it alongside other material. Ali, our candidate from Emersons Green Baptist Church got a booklet as well which we then studied together.


Will the baptistery be ready in time?

When I went to look at the baptistery, David had already warned me that their baptistery would leak, as it is very old and therefore it would be impossible to heat due to the amount of water loss. But we decided to give it a try.

In preparation for the August service, David and others relined the baptistery in glass reinforced plastic, and Downend Baptist Church obtained two replacement heaters from a church in Coventry that no longer needed them.

This was good news, not only for the two candidates, Emmanuel from Downend Baptist Church and Ali, but I was also grateful to hear the refurbishment was completed! The overall story of how the baptistery was fixed is a testimony of God’s goodness in itself.
 



The day

On the big day, the water was pleasantly heated to 27 degrees, cakes were baked, and long-term friends greeted each other.

Both Emmanuel and Ali gave moving testimonies of how God had been leading them through their lives and what had brought them to this point. They knew for themselves that it was the right time to be baptised and make this very public commitment to follow Jesus and be active participants in the family of God. The two testimonies were very different as they have both come from very different starting points. This is normally the case as God treats us and calls us individually.

Not only was it a powerful time because of Ali and Emmanuel being baptised, but it was great to thank and praise God as two churches together. This was a wonderful opportunity to build God’s kingdom through togetherness. The whole service was a reminder that Jesus calls all of us to be part of His journey.

His plan is that we as humans are invited into something bigger than ourselves. Everyone can be part of this broader picture, which God calls us through Jesus into his salvation story, which existed from the beginning, where no one is excluded from his love and his saving grace. I am looking forward to baptising many more in the future. Pray along with us!
 

Jutta Cowie is the Minister in Training at Emersons Green Baptist Church, Bristol