My Baptism Testimony Transcript

大家早上好。我叫安天慈，(Good morning everyone. My name is An Tian-Ci), or as most of you know me, Calum. I feel like I’ve been a Christian since I was very young, having attended my grandma’s church when I was a little child, and attending weekly Bible classes at primary school. For several years though, I attended Chinese school on Sunday mornings, and so I stopped going to church.

Eventually I stopped going to Chinese school on Sundays, and started enjoying Sunday morning cartoons at home. It wasn’t until another mother at the music school we attended suggested this nearby Chinese church to my mum. Thanks Stephanie and Vanessa's mum! My mum thought it would be a good idea to attend, so that we could not only learn more about God, but also improve our Chinese!

Having only just started high school, I was thrown right into the deep end, attending Sunday School class with teenagers who were almost four or five years older than me. I didn’t understand anything. I didn’t understand anyone. As we were the new family at the church, and were not quite Chinese enough to mix with others, we became Sunday Christians.

We were like that for a few years. We attended church and Sunday School on Sundays, then went home. Sure, we believed in God, we followed his ways, and we had a Bible, but it wasn’t a major part of our lives. I remember how a couple of my best friends at high school would spend a lot of their spare time at church, and would wonder to myself, how can you spend so much time at church?

I guess back then, I had many questions. I’m someone who doesn’t like to leave anything down to chance. I wanted an answer for everything. Things pertaining to God were things I couldn’t explain. I thought that I should believe in God just in case he really did exist! I tried to have my foot in both camps. I thought, that if I chose to be ignorant of all arguments against Christianity and just believed whatever I was told at church and by others, then that would be fine.

I would try find a compromise for arguments against God. 

Up to that point, whenever people commented on my personality or on what I was like, they would ask if I was Christian. This displeased me, as I felt the way I was, was just that – a reflection of who I was, and of my upbringing. I didn’t understand why everything had to be attributed to religion.

Ultimately, all these uncertainties about God led me to hide my faith from others. I prefer to avoid confrontation, and debates about heated issues I feel I am not knowledgeable about, such as religion. I had many non-Christian friends, many who were passionate atheists. I’m sure they would’ve respected my views, but it was just something I didn’t want to talk about. I would avoid telling anyone I was a Christian, for fear of being judged.

It was not until the Oddfellows English youth group was established that God started playing a more influential role in my life. God finally started to open my eyes, and made me realise that I’m not alone. There were others my age who believed in God! Being around others who were of a similar age to me, being able to discuss issues that affected us…in English, having fun and the support and encouragement we gave each other – it all helped me become more comfortable with my faith.

Funnily enough, it was an Oddfellows picnic at Cornwall Park when I first realised, I have nothing to hide. After a day of playing games involving dress-ups and other random activities at the park with other youth group members, I came home and the first thing I did was jump on Facebook and came out of the closet. I declared to the world in my profile that I AM A CHRISTIAN!

I have nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, today I realise more than ever that Christianity and God has shaped my life more than anything. The way I am, the wonderful family and friends I have, where I am right now and what I am doing, it is all God’s work. I have developed a passion for serving the church, especially in the music field and with children. The people at this church have all helped me navigate my Christian life. 

I have been contemplating my future career path, asking myself what really matters? What can I do to make a difference in this world? Regardless of how big or small the difference I make, I know God has a plan and he will guide me along that path as long as I obey Him and His word.

The Experiencing God programme that I am currently doing with a few others has challenged me to rethink my relationship with God. I have come to realise, when you have a relationship with God, it is all or nothing.  You can’t pick and choose what you want to believe. You can’t be selective, and you can’t have it both ways. This has been a struggle for me at times, and something I am constantly working on.

I’ve always thought of baptism is something you do to show that you are, or have become the perfect Christian. That is why it has taken me so long to get to this point!

We will never be ready though. We will never will be perfect in God’s eyes. Then again, baptism isn’t an endpoint, but the beginning of a new chapter in one’s relationship with God. It is to show one’s dedication of their life to God. While I may still not be the perfect Christian, and I still sometimes have questions, I believe I am ready to dedicate my life to Him.

谢谢。 (Thank you).

Time to Testify!

Tomorrow morning Hamish and I will be giving my baptism testimony at church! Aonghas will be giving his next month, and then we'll hopefully be getting baptised in Easter.

We were originally meant to get baptised last Christmas, but because of exams and work, we decided to postpone it a bit so we could put some thought and effort into our testimonies.

Admittedly, Karvin, our youth pastor reminded us a couple Sundays ago to submit our testimonies to him by the following Wednesday, as we had had months to get it ready. However, Hamish and I hadn't finished them! We scrambled to finish them. I found it difficult to start, as with most essays and reports I write. However, once I got started, it just all came out.

I think the same thing happened with Hamish. He took a while to get started, but once he got started, HE GOT GOING.

We decided to walk to church that following Friday morning (our mum had already gone to church to help out with some kids playgroup, so we had no transport!) to work on our testimonies with Karvin. Hamish had a job interview on the telephone along the way which was extra cool.

We read our testimonies to Karvin, and he was fine with mine. Originally Hamish had four pages of writing, but managed to cut it down to two. Even with his abridged version though, it took 11 minutes! They worked on it a bit more and managed to halve it down to about five minutes.

For me, I've always wanted read my testimony in Chinese ever since I joined our church and witnessed others giving their testimonies in Chinese. To me, I just feel like it would be demonstrating how it has been a big influence in my faith (being a Chinese church), and that since the majority of the congregation is Chinese, I should put in the effort to speak their language! I'll have a translator anyway, right?

What I find funny is that up till this point people have been asking me if I will be presenting my testimony in Chinese, and have been encouraging me to do so. However, in the weeks leading up to it, I've been discouraged from doing so, for fear of no one understanding me! Maybe they will know how I feel when Chinese baptism testimonies don't get translated into English!

A few close friends of mine told me I should pray about it, so I did.

Anyway, with not wanting to let go of a long-held dream of mine, I was determined to give my testimony in Chinese, even though the pastor was thinking I was going to do it in English. The plan was I would practise in Chinese, then make a decision closer to the day and let the pastor know if I did decide to do it in Chinese.

However, it looks like I'll be doing it in English, seeing as the translation won't be ready in time for me to practise. There goes another dream of mine!

Maybe this was how it was meant to be in the end? I suppose it's not the end of the world, and at least I will be more comfortable with my delivery.

And as Jenny has tried pointing out to me, it's a declaration of my commitment to God in front of others and that's what is most important (or something like that!).

What will make tomorrow extra special is that we'll be having a Chinese New Year pot luck lunch after the combined service and Sunday school, so it'll be an interesting day! Oh...and I have to lead kid's worship!

I better practise more!

A New Start

Today was a very special day - four members of our youth group were getting baptised today!

Because it was a special baptism service, all four of the churches combined for this service this morning. We only have a few of these each year. I wanted to arrive at church early as I needed people to sign some baptism cards we had prepared for them, but of course with us Andersons it's always hard to get anywhere on time! Fortunately I was able to call Joylynn at church and ask her if she could pass the cards around.

When I got to church, the service just started, and so I got the remaining people who were yet to sign the cards to come into a side room to do so. The plan was that I would get some people to present the gifts to the four people as they went up on stage after their baptism to receive their certificate. Well...that was the original plan...

After the sermon was over, it was time for the baptisms! Aonghas was out all morning filming the make-up of someone's wedding, so I was anxiously waiting for him to return. He didn't make it in time though, so it was up to me to film the baptisms! Tim had his camera, so at least there was someone to take photos!

One by one, Andrew, Wei, Angie and Grace went into the pool (which is on the stage) where our youth pastor Karvin asked them a few questions, to which they said 'I do'. After that, they were submerged in the water and officially baptised!

They went into the toilets to dry up while others from the other churches got baptised, and a choir from one of the other churches performed.

As they performed, I was frantically discussing with some of the others whether we were meant to present the gifts as they came on stage to receive their certificates, or if we should just give them their gifts after the service. In the end we decided to give the gifts to them after the service. PHEW!

The guys came on stage to receive their certificates and were each given a bouquet of flowers.

At the end of the service, we got all the youth group together ready to take photos with the newly-baptised guys! The only problem - everyone else was hogging the stage! We decided to storm the stage and hold our ground! After managing to round everyone up, we got our photos taken, and then it was off for lunch!

It was pie time for lunch - beef or chicken! When I went to get beef, the guy told me there were only chicken left, so I took a chicken pie. That kind soul Rebecca offered to swap her beef pie with mine. When we went outside to sit with everyone else, I bit into my pie only to discover it was a chicken pie, while she bit into a beef pie!

It was a really nice day, everyone just sitting outside in the kindergarten eating and talking together. There were quite a few pies left over! It was just a shame I had to leave soon to help Aonghas film a wedding!

Congratulations, Andrew, Angie, Grace and Wei on your baptism! May this be a new and exciting chapter in your spiritual life! :D

(Thanks Tim for the photos!)