Baptism! It’ll Be The Death Of You.

Last night Shiloh held a Baptism Service celebration with 10 individuals willingly choosing to be baptised in obedience to the Lord. The hall was packed to capacity as invited visitors, family and friends came along to witness the wonderful event.

Following initial praise and worship, Mark Tatty Gordon spoke from 2 Corinthians 5v17, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation, the old has passed away, behold the new has come,” and he reminded the baptisees that they are new creations in Christ.

The symbolic act of baptism, which reminds us of the purpose of Jesus coming into the world; to die for our sins, to be buried in the tomb and 3 days later to be raised from the dead, also signifies that the person getting baptised is dying to their old life, being buried in the watery grave of baptism and rising up out of the waters into the new life they have in Christ Jesus.

This is why he told the baptisees: Aidan, Lewis, Chris, Jon, Audra, Rhonda, Brenda, Karen, Trinity and Aalyah, ‘Baptism will be the death of you!’

Aidan was first to be baptised asking his friend and brother in Christ, Billy to do the honour.

Our resident ‘baptiser’ Jimmy then conducted the next 8 baptisms, before Cyril, grandfather of Aalyah baptised his granddaughter.

Before ending with a chorus of praise, those baptised were invited to the front and were each given a small gift, a token reminder of the event and were prayed for.

Afterwards there was a feast of food kindly supplied by members of Shiloh and many people stayed for some time chatting about the service and enjoying the craic.

After the service one visitor remarked, “I don’t believe in God but after what I’ve just witnessed and experienced, I might start to come here every Sunday morning.”

Another man said, “I have been to many baptism services in my Christian life, but I have never experienced anything like what I experienced tonight.”

One Christian woman remarked, “At the very end of the service, during the last song, the presence of the Lord was so powerful I had to hold onto my seat or I’d have fallen over.”

(Photos of the baptisms can be viewed in the Gallery section of this website)