Praying for Mikayla at her baptism.
A few weeks ago, The Garden (Mt Eden, Auckland) celebrated the baptism of two people in their church whānau.
Pastor Tim Cleary says he’s still thinking about the distinctive way God has been at work in the lives of those who were baptised.
“We baptised two people: one girl, Mikayla, who’s 15, and Cleith, who’s in his 40s.”
Both Mikayla and Cleith shared why they’d chosen to be baptised, publicly confessing their faith in Jesus.
“Mikayla told the story of how the Lord gave her a picture of her garden, and it was greyscale, but colour started to come back into it. She realised she needed to take the next step of being baptised, trusting God to bring it to full colour.”
Praying for Cleith at his baptism.
“Cleith shared that he grew up with his primary community being the rugby club, and that being baptised represented that the church is now his primary community. More importantly, he’d handed the clipboard over to God—letting God be the coach and run the plays.”
Mikayla and Cleith were joined by family and friends—both from church and their wider communities, some of whom have never been part of a church community before.
Cleith with his whānau.
Mikayla was supported by her good friend Violet, who had been baptised a few months before. Tim said seeing their friendship and support for each other was one of the best parts of the day.
“Violet’s family don’t attend church, so she comes to church with Mikayla and her family. On Mikayla’s baptism day, she wanted to give the pre-baptism talk and show people the ropes … where to sit, how to sit, what I was going to pray, and how it was going to feel. And that was super beautiful because young people leading young people is part of what the church should look like.”
Violet's baptism several months earlier.
Violet prays for her friend Mikayla (in pool) at her baptism, alongside family and friends.
Baptism is one of the regular rhythms of church life for The Garden, a newly planted church in Auckland that has recently linked in to CCCNZ.
“We run baptisms every two months—it’s really helpful to set the expectation that we’re a church that baptises people.” Tim and his wife Amy planted The Garden, along with a team, in Mt Eden nearly a year ago, and he says they’ve been intentional about inviting people to follow Jesus, to be discipled, and to consider baptism.
The Garden runs the 'Water Course' twice a week ahead of a baptism Sunday. The course allows people to ask questions and learn about baptism, and is a prerequisite for being baptised.
“The Water Course allows people to know that if they’re not ready now, we’re going to do this again in two months. We want to make sure we are constantly baptising people because, if we’re constantly baptising people, then we’re constantly inviting people to be followers of Christ. If we’re constantly inviting people to be followers of Christ, we’re constantly inviting people to church...”
For Tim and the team at The Garden it's all part of nurturing a church culture where God is present, planting, pruning, and bringing forth fruit.
