BAPTISMS IN THE PRESENCE OF MANY!
1 Timothy 6:12 – “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witness.”
It is beyond doubt that the year 2005 will be the year of the Lord’s favor! God’s hand is already at work in East Africa especially in the Nairobi church. Within a period of 30 days, God was able to bless us with 25 new brothers and sisters, 16 of whom were baptized or restored at three electric and exciting Sunday worship services of the East regions. Words cannot accurately describe the level of ecstasy that filled the air during the baptism ceremonies. The congregation burst into uproarious welcome every time someone came out of the waters of baptism in a baptistery strategically placed in our worship auditorium. Immediately after baptism, in the presence of many witnesses, each new disciple was awarded a copy of the DPI book entitled ‘Getting The Most From The Bible’ and was prayed for as they started a new journey in life.
In the presence of many witnesses
This has inspired the entire church to want to share their faith, and those studying the bible are gleefully giving serious consideration to the plea to repent and be baptized.
The theme for the year 2005 in East Africa, ‘Dare To Dream Again’, has inspired us to deeply evaluate the past year with regard to our commitment as Christians and cogitated upon the way forward. In our regional leadership conference held at the beginning of the year, the leaders took cognizance of the low standards that dominated the past year and resiliently resolved to call everyone to the high standards of the bible. Subsequently, we embarked on preaching and teaching the church on issues and topics we deemed prerequisite to spiritual revival, giving careful attention to the issues that contributed to the spiritual upheaval in many churches all over the world including East Africa.
At this point, we cannot help but think of the apostle Peter in Acts 3:19 where he reprimands the onlookers by saying, ‘Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord’. The repentance that has already started taking place has brought about a sense of exhilaration during our worship services. There has been a steady increase in attendance across the board. The East regions were having 570 people on Sundays two months ago and now they are having an average of 700 people at church on Sundays. God, true to His very promise, has opened the floodgates of baptisms. We have witnessed men and women who were persecuting the church before, confess Jesus is Lord and get baptized in the presence of the whole congregation. Baptizing 16 people during our Sunday worship services in the East has inspired the timid to go out and share their faith. We are having more and more people come to church and no one is feeling compelled to share their faith. By all accounts, it has been exhilarating!
One of those baptized is Jennifer, a widow aged 52, who is a mother of 4 children grandmother of 10. She used to oppose the church and we never thought she would ever attend our church service. After her baptism, she made her declaration: ‘I am ready to learn and be corrected by anybody regardless of age’. Talk about the power of prayer! Jennifer’s dream is to see all her family members and friends know the truth and enjoy the freedom we have in Christ. We believe that the month of March will even be greater as we call the church to focus on the theme for the month: Standing On The Promises Of God.
We attribute the sudden growth in the church to the very fact that majority of the disciples have decided to recommit themselves to high biblical standards. The consensus among disciples is to learn from the past year and never seat back again and watch Satan venomously destroys the church with lukewarmness. Continue praying for us in East Africa. God Bless!
By George Irungu
Evangelist, Nairobi Christian Church
It is beyond doubt that the year 2005 will be the year of the Lord’s favor! God’s hand is already at work in East Africa especially in the Nairobi church. Within a period of 30 days, God was able to bless us with 25 new brothers and sisters, 16 of whom were baptized or restored at three electric and exciting Sunday worship services of the East regions. Words cannot accurately describe the level of ecstasy that filled the air during the baptism ceremonies. The congregation burst into uproarious welcome every time someone came out of the waters of baptism in a baptistery strategically placed in our worship auditorium. Immediately after baptism, in the presence of many witnesses, each new disciple was awarded a copy of the DPI book entitled ‘Getting The Most From The Bible’ and was prayed for as they started a new journey in life.
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In the presence of many witnesses
This has inspired the entire church to want to share their faith, and those studying the bible are gleefully giving serious consideration to the plea to repent and be baptized.
The theme for the year 2005 in East Africa, ‘Dare To Dream Again’, has inspired us to deeply evaluate the past year with regard to our commitment as Christians and cogitated upon the way forward. In our regional leadership conference held at the beginning of the year, the leaders took cognizance of the low standards that dominated the past year and resiliently resolved to call everyone to the high standards of the bible. Subsequently, we embarked on preaching and teaching the church on issues and topics we deemed prerequisite to spiritual revival, giving careful attention to the issues that contributed to the spiritual upheaval in many churches all over the world including East Africa.
At this point, we cannot help but think of the apostle Peter in Acts 3:19 where he reprimands the onlookers by saying, ‘Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord’. The repentance that has already started taking place has brought about a sense of exhilaration during our worship services. There has been a steady increase in attendance across the board. The East regions were having 570 people on Sundays two months ago and now they are having an average of 700 people at church on Sundays. God, true to His very promise, has opened the floodgates of baptisms. We have witnessed men and women who were persecuting the church before, confess Jesus is Lord and get baptized in the presence of the whole congregation. Baptizing 16 people during our Sunday worship services in the East has inspired the timid to go out and share their faith. We are having more and more people come to church and no one is feeling compelled to share their faith. By all accounts, it has been exhilarating!
One of those baptized is Jennifer, a widow aged 52, who is a mother of 4 children grandmother of 10. She used to oppose the church and we never thought she would ever attend our church service. After her baptism, she made her declaration: ‘I am ready to learn and be corrected by anybody regardless of age’. Talk about the power of prayer! Jennifer’s dream is to see all her family members and friends know the truth and enjoy the freedom we have in Christ. We believe that the month of March will even be greater as we call the church to focus on the theme for the month: Standing On The Promises Of God.
We attribute the sudden growth in the church to the very fact that majority of the disciples have decided to recommit themselves to high biblical standards. The consensus among disciples is to learn from the past year and never seat back again and watch Satan venomously destroys the church with lukewarmness. Continue praying for us in East Africa. God Bless!
By George Irungu
Evangelist, Nairobi Christian Church