One Baptism

The sun, beginning to sink towards the horizon, casted beautiful long shadows on the red dirt. The reflection of the sun on the water sparkled, and the wind blew just enough to rustle the bright green grass and the stray hairs that had fallen out of my ponytail.

It was the most beautiful evening, but not just because of the scenery and weather. 

We gathered in a circle by the water, and almost every member of our team (Americans and Burkinabe) was there. Charlotte sat down on the djembe and patted out a beat, and Rebeca took a calebasse in her hand and started tossing it in rhythm. We spontaneously began to share worship songs in both English in French, including "c'est la journee" ("this is the day") in both. 

And suddenly I couldn't wait until we have a church in our city where we can all worship together.

"This is the day, this is the day

That the Lord has made, that he Lord has made.

I will rejoice, I will rejoice

And be glad in it, and be glad in it..." 

What a perfect song for this moment! We rejoiced in the ability to worship together, to be a part of a family that transcends ethnicity and language, to reflect on our own stories of salvation through our baptisms, and to celebrate the baptism of Francoise. 

Francoise is a student in our scholars program. She is also a true orphan, and even the people who are left in her family often take advantage of her and treat her as an outcast. 

Today, she became a member of a real family. 

After the songs, Geoffrey and Stanislas both offered words of encouragement to Francoise from passages in the Bible. Geoffrey spoke about unity in the community of Christ and the oneness of the body of Christ. He read from Ephesians 4:4-6, "One lord, one faith, one baptism." 

Stanislas added the story of Nicodemus, who sought Jesus in the middle of the night and heard from the lips of the savior that we must be born again to enter the kingdom of heaven. "To enter into a personal relationship with Jesus and to have direct contact with God, we must be born again," Stanislas said. 

Then Francoise shared her testimony. She is shy young lady, and though what she said wa short, it was perfect. "I am deciding to follow Jesus because I know he is the only Savior. He is the only way to the father."

With that confession and her confession of belief in Jesus as the son of God, the forgiver of her sins, and the lord of her life, she descended into the water. 

We even scared away a crocodile, but no one seemed to mind at all. 

As Stanislas prepared to baptize her, he added one question. 

"When things get difficult, will you abandon God?"

"No," she shook her head. 

"Then in the name of the father, son, and Holy Spirit, we baptize you." 

And in a beautiful moment with the breeze blowing and sun reflecting off the water, she participated in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and came out of the water as a new creation with a bursting smile on her face. Valerie led the song "I have decided to follow Jesus" as we shared wet hugs and words of encouragement. 

Daniel was one of the first to speak up. "We have all been through these waters of baptism and done the same thing that you just did," he hold her. "You can know that you are not alone in this journey." 

"One baptism," Paul said in Ephesians. "One baptism," Daniel reiterated. There really is only one baptism. One father. One family. 

"Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God settles the solitary in a home." (Psalm 68:5-6)

This day, God, the father of the fatherless, welcomed an orphan into his great big family and settled her into a new home. She is no longer alone, no longer without a family. By the grace of God and the faithfulness of his saints to love her and share the good news of Jesus with her, there is one less orphan in the world tonight.