BAPTISM AT MAONO LIGHT

Baptism is a major milestone in the life of a believer — and last month, 27 children at Maono Light got to enter into it themselves! 

Faith is a natural part of life in the community. Families hold church services in their homes each Sunday, where they share the Word of God and pray together. Later on, they also hold Bible studies and trivia. Children are encouraged to be active participants in church-life, and they have opportunities to lead the service, pray, sing, and dance — which many of them enjoy. Children who had decided to be baptized were those who had already made a decision and given their lives to Christ. Vincent Juma led these kids in a discipleship class after church. They learned about salvation, walking with Christ, baptism and more during these classes, and at their conclusion, they were ready for baptism. Parents helped them through the process, and they assured us the kids had true understanding of what baptism was all about, and weren’t doing it to go along with a sibling or any other reason. In Vincent and Rose’s family, Fedel, Eunice, Jeremiah, Sheryl Akini and Agneta were among the children who were baptized.

The excitement was real with these kids on the night before their baptism, laying out their clothing for the next day as well as a change of clothes. The morning of, the kids were dressed and ready to go before parents! Together they traveled to a church outside the community to hold the baptisms, and afterward had a church service and shared communion. 

“It was a big step in the lives of these children,” a parent said. But even big steps aren’t without their chuckle-worthy moments. “Pauline screamed when she was immersed in the water — not because she was scared, but because the water was cold.”