We have so much to be thankful for. God has been so good to us in
allowing us to see the fruit of His work in peoples lives. Last Sunday
we had the privilege of witnessing 27 people get baptized. It was a
true Filipino style outing with lots of laughter and a lot of food as we
celebrated after the baptisms.
So that the believers would not think that only a "professional"
minister can perform baptisms, our missionary team only baptized the
first few people. After that, the believers themselves baptized the
others, so that almost everyone got a chance to baptize someone.
It was a great experience to see the joy in everyone who was baptized
and to celebrate our faith in God together as a community. While
baptism is a symbolic act of our identifying with Christs death and
resurrection (nakigpag-isa kay Jesus), in our cultural context it is a
bold statement of their faith and their commitment to following the Word
of God over any tradition or religion. Pray that the believers will be
encouraged and that their faith will grow. Pray also that they will
develop a vision for reaching out to their friends and families.
Thank you all for your support and prayers. You all have a part in the
fruit of the ministry here, since we could not be here to share God's
Word without your faithfulness to the Great Commission.
Bryan
No comments:
Post a Comment