Baptism joy at Renmark Paringa
Sunday, 28 April 2024, was the cause for celebration at Renmark Paringa Lutheran Church in South Australia when Yaohan, also known to the congregation as Carol, was baptised at the morning service. Carol shares her journey of discovering faith, finding her place within the church community at Renmark Paringa and what led her to get baptised – a testament to the power of belonging and support that comes from a loving church family.
The Lutheran Church has given me many touching experiences. There are many caring and enthusiastic people here. When I arrived, someone took the initiative to talk to me and guide me to join the church. Someone accompanied me all the way, fearing that I would feel lonely. Even though people didn’t know me, they always greeted me warmly. People gave me a big hug each time, invited me to have afternoon tea at McDonald’s, and even taught me to drive and various car knowledge.
At church, someone takes on the service work of the church gatherings every week, and someone organises and participates in the church’s community volunteer activities. Here, I directly or indirectly receive help from everyone.
Even though I came to Australia alone, the church has given me a sense of home and the most solid support. In this big family of the church, we love and are loved by each other because of the love of the Lord; we are connected.
Forgive me, I cannot list every person’s contribution. Everyone has made noble and great efforts, overt or covert, that cannot be fully listed or measured by me. There are too many people here whom I admire and learn from. In this big and loving family, I have had many warm and lovely experiences. Sometimes, even when I temporarily go to other cities, I can sit down and relax during coffee time in the new church, no longer feeling uneasy or constrained.
I can happily engage in conversation with unfamiliar church friends. This ability to love and be loved is something everyone in the church has endowed me with. Thank God! Thank you all!
I first came into contact with Christianity in high school. My mother was encouraged by other church friends to start going to church every week. In our upbringing, few people believe in Christianity, and people do not understand Christianity and even hold biases and fears. I couldn’t understand why it was Christianity, and why not our family’s traditional Taoism, Buddhism or the atheism we were educated in since childhood. Why Christianity; why believe in Jesus?
As a new Christian, my mother was very firm in her views. One thing she said that impressed me deeply was that whether a seed is good or not can be seen from the fruit it bears. She gave an example that, in our country, hospitals used to have red crosses as their signs. This was because missionaries did a lot of medical services in our country very early on. I later searched online and found that my country’s modern hospitals indeed originated from church hospitals. There are too many examples like this. I began to understand the huge impact of Christian culture on my living environment. Although many people there still do not know the Lord Jesus, the Lord has already brought his love to the people of that land through his children.
Even so, turning to Christianity was still a long process for me. Later, I was constantly wavering between questioning and believing. I could not understand many things at the time, and I would even arrogantly think about why God did not arrange things this way or that way. Every day, I had millions of ‘whys’, but the Lord always used his ways to further make me understand the inevitability of his existence and the wonder of his being.
The moment of baptism should have come earlier. I always found excuses to evade it: I always felt that baptism should be on a day when I had a deeper understanding of the Bible, to what extent I don’t know, or at least when my English was completely fluent. However, I encountered a very anxious situation last month, and the Lord once again led me forward. Every time I communicated with Christian brothers and sisters, every prayer brought peace to my soul, allowing my rationality to return. I regained my confidence and courage and bravely moved forward. I felt I could no longer wait for anything.
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