I’m Getting Baptised
How I’m Feeling About Being Baptised As An Adult
The baptism tank in church
By the time that you are reading this, I will have been baptised, or as I’ve been describing it; ‘getting dunked’.
I’ve maybe mentioned before that I grew up in the Church Of England, and I was baptised as a baby, but I didn’t really grow up in church. I remember going to Sunday school up until the time I was seven or eight and then when we moved to where we now live, I think we went to church for a while but for whatever reason, we stopped going.
As a teenager, I was also confirmed but, looking back, I didn’t really understand it, it was just something that we did when we reached that age. Back then I never knew God as I do now and for me, when I was growing up, Church, was stuffy, I didn’t know the tune or the words to the hymns we sang and I didn’t understand what the Vicor was speaking about.
It seems unfathomable to me now that a little over two years after I started to read the bible, I will have been baptised. I started to think about being baptised around this time last year, but with the way things were then, there was no way it was going to be able to happen for a while.
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:38 (NIV)
I’m excited about being baptised and what it will do for me and my faith. I’ve already witnessed some of His amazing deeds since deciding to start reading the bible in 2019 that I’m on the edge of my seat in anticipation of what he’s got planned for me next.
It’s a personal and public declaration of my belief in my heavenly Father and that He sent His son Jesus to die for my sins. As a new believer, I want to repent my sins from my past from when I was living a life of sin.
On this last Thursday, I was heading out to church for their coffee morning and for a baptism preparation chat with a couple of the pastors as well as a church friend who is also being baptised. On my way, I got chatting to one of my neighbours while they were outside their house and they asked if I was on my way to work, I said no and told them where I was heading and why.
They said they were baptised as a child and I agreed that I was as well, but this time it’s my choice, that He pursued me and He’s healed me so much in the last year. I know I’m going to get more of this sort of reaction in the future as it’s not everyone’s walk, but that’s okay. I’ve already said that I never thought it would be mine, but here we are.
During the conversation with two of the pastors, we found out a few of the details about the day. There are four possible baptisms including an eight-year-old boy from our church family, so that’s amazing! I already know that they’re borrowing the baptism tank from a local church but as of this writing, they’ve no idea the size of it but another pastor said that they will send me a photo of the set-up when they’ve collected it on Saturday.
“8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast”
We discussed how it’s done and that the Greek word for baptise translates to plunge or to immerse, so it will involve being underwater before being raised back up. Then we talked about the when; when we have come to God or decided to follow him and let Him into our lives and hearts. The why is to acknowledge publicly our faith as a Christian and to confess that Jesus is our Saviour and Lord alongside leaving our old life behind us and that we are stepping into a new one. It’s a statement od THIS is who I am.
We voiced some of our worries about the logistics of what would happen afterwards with getting dried and changed etc. and I shared how I’d thought through those logistics of needing a towel, what to wear for the baptism and needing a change of clothes for afterwards. Even the fact that I’m going to have my hair in a ponytail so it’s out of the way and not to wear my watch until afterwards.
Coming into this week I began to have some nerves about being baptised so I tried to turn those nerves into excitement and focus on what one of the pastor’s said on Thursday, which was that it’s a celebration.
26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
Galatians 3:26-27 (NIV)
This morning I realised that I hadn’t printed out my testimony but when I went to do it, my Macbook kept saying that the printer wasn’t connected, but it was. Going into the settings it said the printer was there, but for whatever reason, it wasn’t being recognised by my Mac. I tried my housemate’s printer but that didn’t work either. Fortunately, I have google docs on my iPad as well, so I took that to church to read my testimony.
Before I left home I was then trying to send a photo to my Master’s Fam peeps on the Discord chat we have, about my baptism preparation but the message wouldn’t send. Chatting to a friend at church about both of these instances, I realized that it was the enemy attacking me and trying to stop me from being baptised. But his plan failed. I got baptised.
It feels amazing having done it, I feel like I’m on such a natural high. I am so blessed to have been led to such an amazing church community and I know that they really appreciate my joining with them. I had so many people come up to me after the service to thank me for sharing my testimony with them. Some have heard my testimony before, but I know that the majority of the church hadn’t.
I know that this isn’t just the end, it’s also a new beginning. I’m excited to www where God leads me and what he does through me in the future.
