Last Sunday we witnessed three people making their testimony known by Christian water baptism: McKayla Royal, Frank Nester, and Amarra Nester. Baptism is a public demonstration of one’s identification with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. And it can take guts to get up in front of your peers and make that statement.

For centuries baptism was done in a Catholic Church by a Catholic priest. It was usually administered by sprinkling, and was usually done to infants only a few days old. Once baptized, you were “in the Kingdom of God” whether you believed or not. With the rise of the Reformation, there was an ‘anabaptist’ movement. ‘Anabaptist’ means ‘Re-baptized’. This Re-baptism among those who were formerly baptized into Catholicism was seen as an act of rebellion against the organized Catholic Church which saw itself as ‘The Kingdom Of God’ on earth.

Wars broke out all over Europe with kingdom rising against Kingdom because of this conflict. Kingdoms like Alsace and The Palatinate in what is now western Germany lost 1/3 of their population in these senseless wars. Displaced Anabaptists who had fled to other Kingdoms as refugees, were the first to immigrate to America, most as indentured slaves.

For these Christians, our ancestors, standing up for their faith by being baptized by immersion was a big deal. Maybe it should also be a big deal today. Have you been baptized since you’ve believed?