A Historic Day
Sunday, September 8, was a historic day in the life of Grace Baptist Church Nairobi as they celebrated their first baptisms. Pastor Sam Oluoch writes:
“The special day began with very chilly weather. Had the pool not been heated, we might well have postponed the baptisms. The three baptism candidates were more eager to be baptized, even in ice, than the baptizer!
Our special meeting began at 9am with the congregation, numbering almost 40, singing the beautiful hymn ‘All to Jesus I Surrender.’ Those being baptized did well in inviting their family and friends to witness their obedience to the Lord. We quickly proceeded with the baptisms, and by 9:30 we were through, vacating the hotel’s pool before paying guests came to use it.
Everyone was ferried in available cars back to our church meeting place 1 kilometer away, where my wife had prepared tea before the main worship service. What a joy to have a packed church building and preach on belonging to the church of Christ. We truly thank God for this historic day in our young fellowship.
Testimony Excerpts
Eddy is one of my greatest joys in this fellowship. He loves the Lord and loves the saints dearly, and is ever so ready to plead with unconverted souls to come to the Lord. He is a true servant of the church. In his testimony of conversion he ends by saying ‘Jesus Christ is my Savior and my Lord, He is my shepherd and my resting stone, my buckler and shield, my tower of refuge.’
Eddy is a second year student of criminology at University of Nairobi. When I visited him in his hostel one day, I was amused to see that he had more books of Reformed doctrine on his shelf than college books. Believe me, he downloaded Mathew Henry’s commentary and printed all the pages at his cost! He might have bought the actual book at the same cost, but he did not know that it is available in the bookshops. John Owen’s ‘The Death of Death in the Death of Christ’ – you can borrow one from his library, also downloaded and printed. Venning’s ‘The Sinfulness of Sin’? He has that. Calvin’s ‘Institutes’? He has that printed. You name it, he has it. This man Edgar is a real joy.
He died for my sins and His blood has washed away my sins, and now I stand before God with a clear conscience… The righteousness of Christ is the only righteousness that God requires from me and it is all that I have.
Francis, student in Nairobi
Francis is a student in Civil Engineering. His testimony reads in part: ‘Jesus is my Savior and redeemer, He is my God and all in all to me, and I live for Him. He died for my sins and His blood has washed away my sins, and now I stand before God with a clear conscience… The righteousness of Christ is the only righteousness that God requires from me and it is all that I have.’ Wow and I say ‘Amen!’
James has graduated as a teacher and is looking for a job, which is hard to come by. His testimony in part reads: ‘Jesus is my Savior and my righteousness. In Him I have been reconciled to God and my sins forgiven… I trust in Jesus to help me walk in righteousness and for a heart to witness the true saving gospel.’”
