Youth: The Children of God

Monday August 10 2020

Teenage siblings Jennifer, 18, Maheva, 15 and Wilfried, 14, Nsangou describe their baptism at St Rollox church, Glasgow.

ON June 30 2019, we decided to get baptised in St Rollox church in front of our community, friends and family. We decided to get baptised because we as the children of God had been wanting  to get around to it for years but we never felt quite ready until then.

We wanted to follow in God’s steps, we wanted to be cleansed and have a new beginning while finally becoming full Christians. While preparing for the baptism we had lessons with [the Rev] Jane [Howitt] for four weeks every Sunday after church. During the lessons she taught us about what it means to be a Christian and what would  be expected from us as children of Christ. We would read the bible, we would answer questions on the passages we had just read through and we would reflect on what the lesson had taught us about God and Jesus. We learned about what the sermon meant and why it’s an important part of the minister’s talk. The morning of our baptism was busy as our house was filled with family members that flew in a week prior to support us on the day. It was a hectic morning as everyone was trying to get ready and last minute preparations were being made. When we arrived at the church we had  a last minute meeting with Jane, our godparents and parents, where she ran through how the baptism was going to take place. Before the baptism started we were feeling nervous, overwhelmed but excited at the same time. After everyone took their seats we started

the service. The minister spoke on what it means to get baptised, she read a bible passage and we sang some hymns. Then it was time to get baptised. Jane called us all to the front, each with our godparents to answer some questions. Then it was time for the affusion (baptism). After that we listened to Jane preach for a little bit more which drew to the end of the service. After the service we left the church to attend the hall where our party was going to take place. When we walked into the hall we had a grand entrance with all our family and friends that had been waiting for us to arrive. We gave a speech thanking everyone for coming and Jane prayed before we started eating. For the rest of the night we just danced and interacted with our guests. What our baptism means to us, is that we’re officially committed to God, it means that we’re leaving our life of sins behind and we’re starting a new one with God by our side and we’re publicly announcing our love and faith for Christ. What we like about St Rollox is that we are like a family and everyone is friendly and welcoming. No one is left out and everyone is included. We especially love our minister Jane because we feel that we can go to her for advice and emotional support when we’re going through a difficult time. We have a multicultural community that is very supporting in everything that we do, like when they help us fund for the Christian residential called Scripture Union. St Rollox is a loving and warm environment in which everyone is welcomed for worship,we are proud to be members of this  church and are glad that they could help  us in becoming full Christians and  getting baptised. 

If you are under 30 and involved in the Church of Scotland and would be interested in writing for this column, please email us on magazine@lifeandwork.org