Baptism in a Pond Liner!
When it came to a father and daughter double baptism request, the lack of a baptistry due to building work, didn't deter the Breakfast@9 team from Christ Church, Creekmoor from saying "Yes!"
The Revds Janice and Jean Audibert baptise Emily
Instead, the team borrowed a pond liner.
Usually immersion baptisms at the church are held in the specially created baptistry, but the church is currently undergoing a 1.3 million pound extension project and the baptistry had been drained while work on the larger worship space and Community Hub is being carried out.
While the church has held baptisms at Sandbanks beach in the past, the unpredictable nature of the weather and the desire to have everyone part of the celebration ruled this out, so instead the church decided to create a temporary baptistry to baptise Kester and his daughter Emily.
Kester and Emily have been coming to Breakfast @9 for over a year and the 9am till 10am fresh expressions service aimed at busy families is known for the sense of fun and adventure. So the team knew the Baptisms needed to really feel part of this service.
The initial discussions on how the baptisms might happen quickly reached a dead end as renting a pool would be too costly and buying a paddling pool wouldn't work as kit would not be big enough.
Then Michelle Bird, the Children, Family and Outreach Worker and Communications Coordinator for Christ Church, decided she needed to pray about it.
"As soon as I closed my eyes, I got the words 'Southern Aquatics, Pond Liner.'
"So we immediately popped down to our local Southern Aquatics store which is in our parish and asked if we could borrow a pond liner for the baptism!
"It turns out that the manager on duty was the brother of a member of our congregation from years ago who had been blessed richly when she had a baby.
"He agreed immediately and lent them the £250 pond liner!
"This turned out to be the most amazing service which everyone thoroughly enjoyed.
"This certainly proves that 'With God, all things are possible'!"
For more information on the Breakfast@9 service go to christchurchcreekmore.org.
Immersion baptism is a method of baptism that allows for the submersion of all or part of the body beneath the surface of the water. This differs from baptism where water is poured or sprinkled onto the head of a candidate.
It follows the practice of the early Church, which baptised by "immersion".
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