When 68 men and women from an indigenous community in Northern Kenya surrendered their lives to Jesus as part of an outreach and evangelism programme, they faced a difficult but common dilemma in this vast and arid region.
The community living in Turkana County in Northern Kenya often walk up to 3 hours to the nearest water point, mainly boreholes, wells and springs. Despite the challenges of finding water in the area, a group of evangelists and community members were determined to have a water baptism immersion ceremony.
Angi Magoulis, a missionary and the Director of Operations at The Community Center, shared on her social media page how the new believers and the missionaries joined hands to dig a pit next to a dry river bed and lined it with a waterproof polythene paper. All night long, the team spent hours carrying water from a source 2 miles away using 20-litre jerry cans to fill the pit.
“After the people gave their lives to Jesus and we were going through the scriptures, we got to the part of water baptism, they wanted to be water baptised and nothing was gonna stop us,” narrated Magoulis.
Fuelled with excitement, the community filled the pit bucket by bucket, amidst songs of praise in the local Turkana dialect. “You could feel the presence of God,” said Magoulis, who was part of a mission team that spent three days teaching the new believers about the significance of baptism, referencing Romans 6:4 “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
The new believers' profound understanding of this scripture, believing they would literally die and be reborn in Christ, deeply impacted the mission. Nevertheless, their unwavering faith and desire to follow Jesus moved them to proceed with the baptism.
“Even though they thought they were actually going to die when they went into that water, it still didn’t stop them from going because they wanted to follow Jesus so much they were willing to die so that they could live a new life in Christ,” explained Magoulis. “I wish we all took baptism this seriously.”
She added that for people who had never had their full heads submerged under water, the determination and the commitment to find hard-to-find water, demonstrated a glorious encounter with Jesus where everything else fades in comparison.
In addition to the baptism, the year-long mission also planted weekly Bible studies, taught the new believers how to read the Word of God and linked the community to pastors and evangelists “who have given their lives for this work,” said Magoulis.
