Baptizing the world

A decade ago, journalist Douglas Todd noted that a Statistics Canada survey recognized the west coast of Canada as a place of extremes in regards to Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and the religiously unaffiliated. The 2021 Canadian census recorded over three million residents in the lower mainland where 16 of the province’s 30 most populous municipalities exist with 60 percent of the province’s total population. Within this sphere, fewer residents identify as Christian than any other major metropolitan area in Canada.

Before the pandemic, those identifying as “Christian” and those identifying as “non-religious” were almost identical in percentages (44 percent) but adherence to Christian institutions appeared to diminish under the pressure of social isolation. With the lifting of all restrictions, and the arrival of Easter, churches felt a nostalgic burst of life and energy again with the return of congregants.

A full house at Faith Fellowship Baptist (FFBC) in Vancouver celebrated a dozen believer’s baptisms with representatives from around the world: Turkey, Iran, Korea, China and the Philippines. The significance of baptizing  by  immersion as a picture of the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus fit well with the Easter theme. It also pictured the new life of faith being embraced by those who had once lived in other faiths, or with no faith at all. Celebrants shared their personal testimonies in short two-minute video clips before being immersed by one of the three pastors.

A mother and daughter, recent arrivals from Iran who had grown up under Islam, relished the freedom in Canada to choose the faith they believed and followed. Shabnam, the mother, said, “Now that I am in Canada, I’m excited to be baptized because I am so happy that I can freely choose my religion and tell everyone that I love Jesus who is my Lord and Saviour.” Several of the celebrants spoke of the significance of others who had shared the love and truth of the resurrected Saviour with them.

Out of the 8 percent of Canadians who claim to follow Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism or Buddhism it is a pleasant reality for churches like FFBC to see inquirers from those faiths take tangible steps to embrace the One who is Life. The church is made up of adherents from over 60 different countries and celebrates the diversity they see as a reflection of heaven.

At the recent Easter banquet, the church hosted a group of Muslim Afghanis as a way to better understand the conflict and pressure the families faced. FFBC is one of the founders of New Hope Community Services Society – which has provided housing to over 850 refugees from over 60 countries. The church is currently sponsoring 20 new refugees who are in process of preparing to come to Canada.

Ka Lai, one of the baptismal celebrants at FFBC noted in her testimony that “when I was young, I had a very distorted image of God. He was like a genie to me and I only sought his help when I got into trouble.” She noted the number of individuals God had brought into her life to redirect her through her struggle with anger, bitterness and grudges. She said “we may look good on the outside, but God knows what is in our hearts. In the past, knowing Jesus died for my sins was a piece of knowledge in my head, but now I know in my heart why Jesus died for me on the cross.”

A young man from Turkey shared that he had read the Bible and come across Romans 10:9-10. “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” This was an invitation to find the truth and he chose to learn and accept the whole gospel message. He said, “It was a dangerous decision and I had to flee from my homeland. I lost my family, my friends, my job and my home. But I have my Lord and my supportive wife and mother.”

For many of the candidates choosing to take on this identifying mark of Jesus, it is not just an act but a statement that will radically change the choices available to them among their own people. I (Jack) remember sitting in an IRB hearing for an Iranian refugee family trying to explain why they should stay in Canada. I was a witness before a judge who seemed to reject all things until I remarked that the parents had been openly baptized on an Easter Sunday and declared their faith in Jesus. That tangible act seemed to be an irreversible declaration of faith that ensured they would not be welcomed back into their homeland without persecution. They were accepted on the basis of their baptisms.

Many Canadians say the influence of religion is waning in this country. Sixty Four percent surveyed, recently said it was less important than it was 20 years ago. Still almost half are engaged somehow in religious practice of some kind but perhaps as a private practice. The young are rarely seeing it displayed as essential. The changing laws which undermine the values of Christians seem to agree. And yet, newcomers to Canada continue to embrace faith, share faith and call others to faith. We are apparently still more religious than the French and the British. While two-thirds of Canadians say it isn’t necessary to believe in God in order to be moral or to have good values, a third do.

A group of eight, at FFBC’s Easter service, were part of a house church/discipleship movement who had given up on the institutional church but still came out to support someone they knew who was getting baptized. Before the pandemic, in the lower mainland, there were 950,000 people who claimed some affiliation or identification with Christianity. This had dropped by over four percent in the last decade. 378,000 identified as Catholic; Almost as many simply wrote Christian; Other groups included United Church (87,000); Anglicans (84,000); Baptists (42,000); Orthodox (32,000), Lutherans (29,000), Pentecostals (25,000) and Presbyterians (22,000). During the pandemic, churches saw a radical decrease in attendance. 

Still, if FFBCs baptisms are an indication, there may yet be hope for those invested in reaching across cultural and social barriers to share the love and faith of Jesus, not only at Easter, but throughout the year.