Baptisms

On April 22nd, we had the great joy of witnessing and participating in four Shona women’s decisions to follow Jesus and obey Him in being baptized. Many of us have experienced a baptism and retain a picture of the atmosphere, circumstances and happenings of such an event! However, our experience on April 22nd struck our sense of familiarity with such a service in a way that we felt it was absolutely necessary to try and paint a picture for all of our wonderful supporters and friends to see how different a “similar” experience can feel.

The baptism service came, as local Christian custom instructs us, after the Sunday morning worship before everyone returns home to rest and enjoy communal fellowship. However, the differences began to emerge at precisely this point. Typical to most American churches, Baptism happen in the church during or after the Sunday morning service. In Doma, the local church building as a baptistry, but it cracked in a large earthquake some years ago and no longer boasts the capacity to retain water. So, our little congregation began a short (1/2 mile) trek down to the lake to baptize the four women who recently gave their lives to Jesus. Arriving at the lake a little before the rest of the church, some brothers and I (Ian) began scouting out the best place to perform the baptism, given the reality that we know a very large crocodile resides at this particular section of the lake. We could not find the crocodile, but found a suitable location where we could see him coming through the weeds, should his appetite get the better of him and he decide to attack. About that time the rest of our local church began to arrive and prepare to celebrate with these four new sisters. I (Ian) received the task of physically entering the lake to baptize the women and was looking around with much prayer, trusting the Lord to protect us all as we sought to obey His words in this act. Just as everyone arrived at the lake, one of the elderly men in the congregation, John, arrived walking along the shoreline and scared the large crocodile into the lake. To give a perspective on the size of this crocodile, when John scared it into the water, it motored about 1/2 way across the lake (200 yards or so) and had a clearly distinguishable wake the entire way! What’s more unnerving, when you are around crocodiles, is the disappearance of that wake and huge animal under the surface! None the less, as soon as everyone arrived, we entered the lake and began to baptize the women. 

The first two baptism where very similar to what you might experience in the States, the women simply going under and coming up in new life, as Romans says. The third, however, transpired quite differently. When the third woman came up out of the water a demon immediately manifested in screaming and convulsing. John and I drug the woman over the land and members of the church joined in praying for her. After about ten minutes the manifestation subsided and a local pastor instructed me that they always “rebaptize” when someone shows a manifestation so we baptized her again and she came up without any shrieks or shrills and the church erupted in jubilant song at Jesus victory over Satan for our sister! The fourth woman was much similar to the third, except she was delivered with less prayer and no further baptism. At the end of the baptism we exited the lake and charged the church with the responsibility of nurturing these four young sisters in Jesus unto maturity and steadfastness in Christ. The day was very encouraging and uplifting! Brothers and sisters, please never forget that Jesus reigns victorious over death, sin and Satan! We’ve seen that victory physically manifested and consider ourselves blessed to bear witness to the resurrection and power of Christ! We pray this account gives you courage and resolve to continue living for Jesus, lifting Him high that all men, women and children might be drawn to Him! May God bless you with His presence and power as you seek to honor Him in this way!

Much love in Jesus,
The Frys