As Debbie and I planned our baptismal service, we consulted our Minister's Service Manual.It advised that:

Every congregation should have a baptistery inside the sanctuary, located in the chancel so that the focal point of attention on entering the church will be the two Christian ordinances, the Lord's Supper and Christian Baptism….The baptistery should be beautiful and of adequate dimensions….The water in the baptistery should be heated.

Good advice, but I was certainly not going to drag our swimming pool into the living room, our living room being our sanctuary.Our pool does not qualify as "beautiful," but it was of more than adequate dimensions.I was very much in favor of heated water. We are having a cool summer, and I have not yet been swimming.We could not find a way of heating the water, so we all suffered in the cold water.I have done many baptisms, all of them in heated baptisteries in sanctuaries.This was my first in a swimming pool in a backyard.Somehow, it felt more authentic.In the early church, they baptized people outside, three times, in cold moving water.

We held the entire service outside.There was no barrier between us and the heavens.I thought about the dove of God's Spirit descending and resting on Jesus at his baptism.I imagined the blessing of God descending and resting on our 3 baptismal candidates, the unimpeded grace of God in their lives.

I imagined our neighbors looking down on us from their second story windows wondering what in the world we were doing.People in white robes submerging one another for no apparent reason, it is a wonder no one called the police.Most Belgians have probably never heard of baptism by immersion of people who can stand on their own two feet.The order of the day is infant sprinkling, and fewer and fewer people bother with even that.Our brand of baptism certainly seems a bit odd.But to follow Jesus Christ in personal discipleship is a rather odd thing to do in Belgium.In the same way that people would not understand this act of baptism, they would not understand the act of commitment to the Lordship of Jesus Christ being made by these three believers.

The chill of the water and the starkness of the swimming pool stood in sharp contrast to the clear and warm declarations of faith made by each of our three new members.Each shared, in their own words, why they were seeking baptism.The sincerity of their belief was contagious.And each, in turn, before their immersion declared "Jesus is Lord."Liesbeth, who is 15, Rebecca, who is 17, and Monika, who is 30, now stand in the company of millions of believers, who for over 2,000 years, have made that identical declaration.

In a backyard in Belgium, three women, under nothing but the heavens, declared "Jesus is Lord."And then they got dunked.Nothing but the bare essentials.Faith, water, a Christian community, and the felt presence of God—what more do you need?Well, warm water would have been nice….

Please pray with us for:

• God's blessing on Monica, Liesbeth, and Rebecca
• Debbie and other IM missionaries as they plan fall trips to the States to promote the World Mission Offering at this time of severe financial need at International Ministries

Thank you for your support of our ministry through your gifts to the World Mission Offering.

Peace,

Jim Kelsey, along with Debbie, Ben, & Luke