When two of Harehills Lane Baptist Church’s congregation asked to be baptised the fact that their church building was closed could have raised all sorts of complications… step forward MBC member Rod Russell (who by chance has a hot tub in his back garden) and his near neighbour, our old friend Rev’d Andy Hobbs.
“Yes” recalls Andy, “in terms of a traditional baptism service bringing the two of us together certainly made for a very unusual day.”
The baptism candidates were two men: Gerberen who is Dutch and married to a lovely Kenyan lady was eager to publicly renew his faith, and had been keen to be baptised for quite some time. David on the other hand has only been a Christian for a month or so so it was lovely to bring the two together, albeit in a hot tub in a neighbour’s garden.”
Andy isn’t sure if what they did last Sunday will qualify Harehills Lane Baptist Church for a place in the Guinness Book of Records but it was certainly a first for him. “It was a wonderful occasion, in fact the water was so nice none of us wanted to get out. We’re so grateful to Rod who when I first mentioned the idea jumped at the chance to help out. After the baptism we had a lovely, socially distanced BBQ for which even the weather stayed fine.”