The Place to Be & Meet Together

Please join us for a special service of believer's baptism which will be held at 2.30pm on 29 November.

Believer’s baptism is a very special moment on the journey of faith. It's a moment when God's presence and blessing meets us, and when we make our personal commitment of faith in Jesus as Lord. 

It signifies the end of our old life and of being born again to new life in Christ. Normally taking place by full immersion in water (we'll be using a temporary pool), it speaks of repentance and cleansing, of being united with Christ in his death and resurrection, and of witnessing to the call of God upon our lives. 

Baptism is also about receiving God's Spirit for service in the church and in the world. 

The vast majority of Christian churches affirm baptism as a moment when we receive God's gift and respond in faith, but not all practise believer's baptism. Many baptise those who are too young to make their own response of commitment to Christian discipleship, and so parents make promises on their behalf that are later 'confirmed' by the person themselves when they are of an age to do so. 

Here are two meditations brought together by the Baptist Peace Fellowship. We're thankful to the authors for sharing their work. The first meditation for Remembrance Sunday was written at a war cemetery set in the edge of a cornfield near Arras (northern France). Looking at the row upon row of military gravestones and crosses in this area brought a vivid reminder of the cost of conflict whether in resisting aggression or peacemaking. (The image is of private Fred Heeley, a teenager who died to the south of Arras just fourteen days before the end of the First World War. He has no known grave.)