Baptisms and AGM Results

On Sunday morning we are baptising Joshua and Emily. We had hopped and planned to Baptise Joshua in March 2020, but had to postpone because of the virus. We are delighted to be able to baptise them this Sunday, and would love you to join and celebrate God's grace with us.

Why baptise children?
Sometimes Christian parents can be somewhat hesitant to baptise their children. I think that's a shame.

The Apostle Paul says he wasn’t sent to baptize, but to preach the gospel (1 Cor 1:17). So whether to baptize infants is a secondary matter – it doesn’t affect our salvation.

The early church situation recorded in Acts tells us what happened in first generation of Christians. Adults got baptised when they converted to Christ.

But we want our children to enter into discipleship with Jesus from the start of their lives. So what to do with the outward sign and symbol of beginning with Christ for our kids!?

The New Testament several times mentions that when the head of a home believed, the whole household was baptised. For example, take Acts 16. When Lydia and the Philippian jailer were converted, it says not only they, but also their households were baptised, though only the faith of the household head is mentioned. Of course, this does not prove children or infants were present, but it’s likely, since childless households were so uncommon back then. The inference is that we may baptise the children of believers.

Indeed, in the Bible, baptism is mainly a sign not of what we do in professing our faith, but of what God does, through uniting us with Christ, especially in washing us clean from sin. And God can be at work in our children, before they are able to express faith themselves.

For example, remember when the disciples tried to turn the children away from Jesus like over-eager political minders! Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

And Jesus put his hands on them and blessed them. This plainly states that even babies are capable of receiving some benefit from the Lord Jesus, though they were too young to understand it.

In the Old Testament, children were welcomed into God’s covenant of grace by a ceremony. In that case, it was circumcision – for the boys, normally on the 8th day of life – clearly before they were capable of believing themselves, but because of the faith of their parents, who then taught them the contents of their faith as the children grew.

In the same way, in the New Testament, in 1 Corinthians 7:14, a child with even just one believer is counted as ‘holy’, that is, set apart as special to God, by that one parent’s faith.

Of course children can reject that ‘default setting’. But in the Baptism Service, parents, godparents and the whole church pray that the Holy Spirit will be at work in the children; that they might grow up as followers of Jesus, to live out the blessings symbolised in baptism.

Article 27 (of the Anglican 39 Articles) finishes by saying that,
“The baptism of young children is … to be retained in the Church, as most agreeable with the institution of Christ.”

How carefully it puts it! It does not say infant baptism is taught by the Bible. It says it is consistent with the Bible. Believers, I encourage you to consider it for your children!

Results of the Annual General Meeting (AGM)
On Monday night we had our AGM. Thank you to all who attended and asked great questions and voted and stood for positions.

I am very please to confirm our Wardens (and parish council) are: Malcolm Purvis, John Zhuang and Jono Wallace.

Our Nominators are: Rachel Farrar, Ben Wright, Ellen Hebrenuik, Veronica Ng and Jono Wallace.

Prayer Meeting (Next meeting: Monday 21st March 7:45pm)
On the FIRST and THIRD Monday of the month (7:45 - 8:45pm), join us to pray to save the lost in our community. We meet remotely - here's the link to the meeting

Join us in person or online!
If you can't make church in person, you're welcome to join us online:

Mike Doyle