Baptisms - Easter 2006

On Easter Sunday 2006, Burlington was jam-packed to witness two teenage girls get baptised.  Here they tell their stories ...

Hannah Childs's story

Hi, my name is Hannah and I would like to spend a few minutes talking to you about how I became a Christian and how I have got to standing here today.

Becoming a Christian

I became a Christian at the age of nine when The Red Balloon Theatre Company came to church to take one of our services.

When it got to that Sunday I had a really excited feeling in my body and I felt like something special was about to happen but wasn’t quite sure what it was.

When I got to church I went to find my friends and we sat down.

On this particular Sunday I seemed to be listening a lot more to what the people were saying.

Towards the end of the service they asked if anyone wanted become a Christian and if they did they had to say a prayer.

I can remember sitting there not even knowing I was saying the prayer.

At the end of the service I understood what had happened and for a change was really looking forward to going back to school to tell all my friends.

What I also thought was really cool is that once you started following Jesus you were given eternal life and had a friend who was always there and who you could depend on for everything and that really encouraged me.
Putting God first

When I got back to school I discovered that it was really difficult
putting God first and telling my friends what had happened to me that Sunday.

I really suffered at school with putting God first. I guess I didn’t
really try very hard.

When I got a little bit older my faith started to matter a lot more to me and I started telling a few people about going to church and what God meant to me.

Thinking about baptism

I guess I only started thinking about baptism seriously when I got to year six.

Baptism began to mean something to me when I saw my mum and brother get baptised because I saw how God had changed their lives and I was desperate to find out what God had planned for my life. 

It was a big decision to make because I knew that there were lots of things in my life which I needed to change a lot of.

So I am standing here today to show the world that I love God and I want him to be put first in my life for ever more.

Charlotte Morbey's story

Hi. My name is Charlotte, and I have been going to Burlington for around nine years.

I became a Christian seven months ago and I can’t wait to tell you how!

The gradual process began when I moved schools in Year 5. There were only two other girls in my class and year, and neither of them bothered to even consider getting to know me.

They judged me on sight as someone who was ‘uncool’. I did believe in God, but as I became more and more unhappy, I used to think, “If God exists, why on earth is he letting me go through this?”

The only word that I could use to describe myself at that point was miserable, and I drifted away from my faith completely.

I was so badly bullied that I wanted a new start, and I didn’t go up to Kesgrave High School. Instead I went to Woodbridge, and I felt that finally I had a chance to rebuild my education.

I made new friends and started enjoying school, a feeling that I hadn’t felt for such a long time - I was happy!

Part of going to Woodbridge was going to chapel. A service every Wednesday was compulsory and each week we had to sit in silence for twenty minutes - difficult for some excitable eleven year olds! - so we all had to listen.

I, however, didn’t sing with stupid voices in the hymns or snigger during the Bible readings.

I sat silently in thought and contemplation.

I was like this for one and a half years until my little sister, Sophie, became a Christian, and it really began to make me think that there had to be something behind this Christianity stuff!

My mum, grandparents and now my sister were all Christians, and I started to read the Bible.

During all of this I was still going to church and at the beginning of Year 9 I asked Claire if I could go to e-merge.

She, of course, said “Yes”, and we began to look deeper into prayer.

Three weeks later I was by myself in my room after e-merge, and I was reading Exodus.

I can’t remember exactly which verse I was reading, but something that night clicked! I can’t explain what it was, but I started crying, and realised that finally, I was a Christian!

The reality hit me hard at chapel, and I began to sing my heart out - my classmates noticed there was a change, and I decided to tell my friends that I wanted to be baptised.

On MSN that day I dropped it casually into the conversation.

They were so pleased for me because Hannah was also going to be baptised.

I e-mailed Claire and she was surprised to say the least!

Hannah and I went on the Membership Course and we decided to be baptised together.

So here I am. It’s taken me nine years but I’m here.

I’m here and ready to devote the rest of my life to God.