First to take the plunge

Two years ago, Leticia and Hugo were the first to finish a discipleship course through our ministry. One of the lessons dealt with adult baptism. When asked if they wanted to be baptized, they answered with a clear “no”. Who could have blamed them? They were the first to answer this question in our ministry and had never seen this type of baptism modeled. Additionally, they faced a conflict between their culture and their new faith. They, like most Hispanics, grew up culturally Catholic. This meant they were baptized or sprinkled as babies. This carries a powerful symbolism to their parents with regard to faith though most were never regular attendees of the church. Perhaps Leticia and Hugo felt the heavy conflict between culture, family and the lessons of our discipleship when they answered no.

Two years later at our recent worship service, Mission Adelante held its first baptism celebration with six individuals sharing their testimony of faith in baptism. These were not decisions taken lightly by the individuals. We made it clear to each of them that baptism is only a symbol and had absolutely no bearing on their salvation by faith. Under no compulsion, Alberto, Graciela, Alden, Martha, Luz, and Nayelli boldly gave a great model of testimony to our community of faith. As a result, Elena, Alejandro, and Fernando declared their desire to be baptized soon.