Chinese and Australian Baptist Church (CABC) – West Ryde has five congregations, two Cantonese Congregations, one Mandorin Congregation and two English Congregations. During National Baptism Week, the two English Congregations combined for a special Baptism Service where seven young people were baptised.
“It was a wonderful time of fellowship, worship, learning about God’s great love for us through the Lord Jesus; as well as a community dinner,” says Dharshana Aseervatham, English Service Pastor, “praise God for what He has been doing in the lives of these young people and what He will continue to do through them and this church for His glory.”
Most of the young people being baptised had grown up in the church, learning more about Jesus through their parents, and the church’s kids’ and youth ministries. One young lady had grown up as a non-Christian but through coming to the church’s youth group and given her life to Jesus.
“Baptism is a really big deal in our church,” explains Dharshana, “not that we aspire to be doing things by numbers, but to know that we’re baptising people every year means a lot. If young people can get a job at 14 and get their license a couple of years later, they’re old enough to think critically about their faith.”
In planning the service, there were some logistical challenges to overcome. Giving all seven baptism candidates time to share their testimony meant they had to run the Baptism Service separate from the usual Sunday gathering, otherwise the Sunday gathering would run over into when the next congregation was meant to be using the site.
So, they held a special afternoon service where testimonies were shared by all of the candidates. Over 150 people came, including lots of family, friends and church members. The candidates intentionally invited non-Christian and nominal friends, who heard the Gospel preached and the powerful testimonies of those being baptised. In the days and weeks after the Baptism service we heard about the impact and flow on effect on this service on some of the visitors who attended as they started to ask more questions about faith and Jesus. The afternoon service also allowed for extended fellowship over dinner.
Running the Baptism Service was a team effort. “There was a team of pastors, lay leaders and church members helping out to make the extra service come together,” explains Dharshana, “we had siblings of those being baptised do the prayer and bible reading.”
Usually, CABC West Ryde does baptisms once a year and work up to it in the church calendar with a series of classes. These pre-baptism classes are adapted from resources already available and made to be culturally appropriate for their unique demographic. The classes highlight that “baptism isn’t a rite of passage but is the outward symbol of how you feel on the inside”.
The classes are open to anyone interested in learning more about baptism, and if they’re keen and comfortable they can proceed to being baptised.
“We’ve had to emphasise that baptism is a decision you make about your faith,” explains Dharshana, “even if your family is encouraging you to be baptised, you need to do it because you want to do it. So, we invite people to the classes to learn, and if you want to be baptised, we’ll back you.”
“We’re very thankful that seven young people who’ve been an active part of our church have made this decision,” says Dharshana, “we give God all the praise. It’s wonderful to hear how Jesus is the hero in someone’s life and how they want to commit their life to following him.”
With more people being baptised this year than previous years, the leadership team is already thinking about running two baptism services in 2025. In particular a group of teenagers and university aged students who were present at the baptisms in October have already said they want to get baptised themselves.
For more resources for churches and leaders wanting to elevate a culture of Baptism, check out the Baptism Hub on the Crossover website.
