On a cold, cloudy, gale of an evening in late January two 16-year-old girls from Grace Church Richmond’s Detonate Youth Group got baptised at Rabbit Island Beach.
Both Leah and Gabi have been part of the youth group for the past few years, where they’ve had the opportunity to hear about Jesus and learn what it means to follow him.
Leanne Craig serves as part of the team of youth leaders and says she’s had the privilege of walking alongside Leah and Gabi over the past year, “both girls are from non-Christian homes and have been part of the youth group as they’ve been on a journey to know God—before they were baptised each shared their testimony and reflected on how Easter Camp was a significant time for them in experiencing God.”
Despite the cold and wind, 50 friends and family came to support Leah and Gabi as they took this step of obedience in publicly acknowledging their faith, “it was great to have family members attend and hear the gospel, and to share in the moment” says Leanne, “their families were so grateful to be a part of the evening and expressed their gratitude for the love and care shown to their girls. They even generously supplied sausages for everyone, which went down a treat… each girl shared about how God has been at work in their life… particularly in changing their hearts and growing them to be more like Jesus.”
Leanne shares how discipleship has played a key role in growing this faith, “we’re blessed to have several youth leaders who are really committed to discipling young people—regularly running before-school Bible studies with youth group girls, they’ll meet at 7.30am, read a passage together, talk through what it means and pray together before school.
This intentional discipleship is producing fruit—with young people regularly serving as part of church ministries and growing in their faith, “you can see these young women each week in our church services with their Bibles open, taking notes, hungry to learn more about God.”
One Sunday soon, Leah and Gabi are looking forward to sharing the photos and their testimonies with the whole church family as part of Sunday’s service, as Grace Church celebrates their declaration of faith in baptism.
