A Burst from Baptisms
by Robert Krumrey
Last Sunday we rocked the baptismal pool with five baptisms! The room (and our livestream) was filled with MHers and special guests who had come to celebrate what Jesus had done in the lives of these five women. It felt like a burst of encouragement in the midst of what has sometimes felt like a very discouraging time. Here are at least 4 reasons why I found myself encouraged:
JESUS ISN’T FAZED BY COVID
Even though things are so different right now and we are engaging with fewer people than usual, Jesus is still calling people to himself and building them up as his disciples. Baptisms aren’t the only thing that indicate this, but I do think they are one of the most important indicators regarding the health of a ministry and the presence of Spirit empowered gospel centered ministry. We’ve seen six people total profess faith through baptism this semester which is honestly what we usually see in any given semester over the past 43 semesters of our existence.
JESUS DOES HIS BEST WORK IN DARK PLACES
As I read and listened to the five baptismal testimonies from Sunday, I was struck by the painful dark places that most of these women had found themselves in and that Jesus had gone into those places and shown his life transforming light. One of the testimonies included these reflections after the experience of her second sexual assault:
“If this wasn’t all enough of a blow, I became the victim of assault again at 17, and this was when I lost all trust in God’s said “goodness”. Even though I didn’t show it, I’d given up on God. I was still going to church, but I always left the same way I’d arrived, feeling empty, alone, and with a complete loss in hope that my pain would ever pass. It got to a point where I fooled everyone that I was doing great, but living that lie was starting to weigh on me, on top of every other thing life wanted to throw at me, so much so that 2 summers ago I didn’t want to live anymore.”
This wasn’t the only mention of abject hopelessness and despair from the five testimonies. Much of what was shared was gut wrenchingly honest and devastating, but this was never the end of their stories which is partly why these stories were so encouraging. That same testimony also included this description of Jesus’ work in her life:
“I hated admitting that I was broken because of my past, but what I’ve only come to realize now is how much God cherishes us, the beautiful and ugly parts. There’s nothing we can do to change that fact because the love He has for us is 100 times greater than our bruises and past. Now, in Him, I know my identity, I am His beloved child! And today I stand here to faithfully testify that He truly is my one and only Savior because with all that’s happened in the past 7 years, the last thing I thought I deserved was another chance, but He thought differently. So much so that He saved me from harming myself because He still believed I was deserving of the purpose He had always had planned for my life.”
As I read this, I was reminded anew that Christ truly is the light of the world (see Jn 8:12). Not just in an abstract/theological way (which is important) but in a way that gets into the darkest places of human existence and brings ultimate hope and healing.
JESUS USES DISCIPLES TO MAKE DISCIPLES in a disciplemaking church
Another one of the common themes in most of these testimonies, was shout outs to Vi and her chicken curry. If you haven’t met Vi, you should do so as soon as possible - her life is an amazing testimony to God’s work in a human being. Vi is on our staff team and initially came to us as a Umass student. She is originally from Vietnam but had gone to high school in Singapore and had become a Christian there. When she got here, she was a brand new Christian with much to learn and a hunger to do so. She took advantage of every opportunity she had to grow in Christ. She immediately began to share the gospel with her friends. She also served faithfully in our church and with IV campus ministry and participated in discipleship.
Fast forward seven years and you see a disciple maker who is affecting numbers of students and others for the mission of making disciples of all nations. She is not only offering delicious chicken curry to hungry college students, but is sharing the meat of God’s word in countless small group and one on one interactions. It has been a joy to have a front row seat to see this happen here at MH! Don’t miss this. God used the weekly preaching of the word, small groups, discipleship, membership, prayer . . . to create an environment where he could raise up a disciple like Vi and give her a platform for being a disciple maker herself. Be encouraged!
JESUS and his church are always ON MISSION until his return
While baptisms are always a high water mark (pun intended!) in any semester, they are part of an ongoing mission that will never stop until Christ’s return. I was encouraged yet again by a conversation I had with one of the guests who came to see their friend baptized. They had heard and seen the testimony to the power of the gospel in the lives of the five who were baptized and were wanting to know more about how that same gospel could change their lives.
It’s so easy to think that because of COVID that we are merely “treading water” as a church. Thankfully, this couldn’t be further from the truth. The truth of what is actually happening in the church around the world is that Jesus is building his church and will not be fazed by whatever our circumstances may throw at us. In one of my favorite foundational scriptures regarding the church, Jesus says this:
“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. ”
Jesus is building his church, COVID or no COVID. And nothing, not even hell itself, will prevail against it. Be encouraged by the proof of that reality in the baptisms of these believers who are now part of our church family. Let’s take encouragement from God’s word and his work among us and press on in the mission we’ve been given until he returns.