Friday, November 19, 2010

BAPTISMS AT AMANO 14TH NOVEMBER 2010













Sunday 14th November was special this year both because it saw the last Family Worship of the school year and particularly because this service included the baptisms of four secondary students from the school.
It was decided to place the ‘baptistery’ outside in preparation for the service, despite the fact that the rainy season has started and every day sees at least one heavy rain shower if not a more eventful storm. We were challenged to trust in God for fine weather, and that is just what we got: warm, sunny with good cloud cover and a gentle breeze. As you will see from the pictures, it proved to be a lovely setting and once all the technical details were sorted out the service began on time at 11 hours. There was a large crowd to witness this event, including students and staff, family members of those being baptised, and quite a number of visitors.
The service began with ‘To God be the glory’ as a recognition of the priority we should have when worshipping God. Most of the songs had been chosen by the young people being baptised and each focused on the theme of commitment to Jesus, placing their lives into God’s hands, and seeking to allow God to change them to become the people He wants them to be. They included: ‘Be thou my vision’; ‘God will make a way’; ‘You are my all in all’; ‘In Christ Alone’ and ‘Amazing Grace’. They were sung to the accompaniment of a small group of musicians, including keyboard, guitar, flutes and brass, and a number of female secondary students who used their voices to give us a strong lead.
A special moment in the service was when each of the four baptism candidates stepped forward to the microphone to share their testimony. For each of them they were able to reflect on the journey they had been on to bring them to this point, a journey which in all cases involved recognition of their own sin before God and their need to be forgiven. They were able to stand up and proclaim their faith in Jesus and their relationship with God, whilst also acknowledging that the process of God’s work in their lives has only just begun. The fact that they were brave enough to speak in this way in front of such a large crowd was, in itself, testimony to what God has been doing in these young lives.
Mr. Philip Grove spoke, in the sermon, about the passage in Acts 8 which gives an account of Philip meeting the Ethiopian ‘minister of finance’, and how this God-appointed meeting allowed Philip the opportunity to explain what the passage of scripture this important man was reading really meant. Mr. Grove challenged us to be those who will speak when God gives us the opportunity, as Philip did, and also to be open to God’s guidance; if He should lead us to a place that is unexpected and perhaps seems to be with little purpose, will we be obedient and open to what God wants to do through us? Mr. Grove highlighted the importance of baptism for those who are committed to following Jesus, but he also emphasised that the baptisms taking place in this service were not an end but a beginning of something new. Those baptised today should remember that God wants to take hold of their lives and use them in a powerful and effective way in the future. ‘It is not time to sit back and relax but time to get active for God!’ They should also make the effort to get to know the Bible better.
All that I have mentioned thus far was the build-up to the main event, the baptisms of Elina, Womba, Chigo and Daniel. Mr. Michael Pflaum called each of them in turn into the large blue tank which was serving the purpose of the baptistery, and spoke a few words from the Bible. He highlighted that those who are baptised should have committed themselves to Jesus and he asked each student whether they had done this. He then pushed them under the water and brought them up again as an illustration of how they have died to their old lives and are now alive in Jesus. It was great to see some of the children who are linked to A.C.S. standing close to the baptism tank and seeing for themselves close up what these young people were doing; who knows what impact that image might have on their young lives? After each baptism a verse from the song ‘I have decided to follow Jesus’ was sung, as a celebration of what these young people were saying by going through the waters of baptism, and they were prayed for individually. The service was concluded by singing ‘Amazing Grace’.
I hope that this account, along with the photos, captures something of the atmosphere and significance of this service at Amano Christian School.
Martin Smith