News from the mission field

This is the kind of news we want to see more of. Brothers (in the flesh and in the Lord) Simão and Tiago were baptized at the beginning of the month in Funchal. In case you don't know where the baptistery is located, it's under the front entrance to the church building. It's normally covered with an aluminum platform that's removed when there's a baptism. To become a member of a Baptist Church, you have to go through the water in baptism. In this case, visitors don't have to come through the baptistery to attend the services, but they at least have to walk across it. When the new building was erected in 2004, the building lot was so small that there was no way we could figure out a way to put the baptistery under the platform of the pulpit and choir, as is often the case in small church buildings. And to answer your question, no, the water is not heated.

It's great to see the church house full again after the Covid "plague". This is true of the English-language services on Sunday mornings and the Portuguese meeting in the afternoon. Large churches are still feeling the effects of the lockdowns, and churches that are not large to begin with may feel the impact even more acutely. But Christ's church will survive, not matter what Satan throws at her. We have Jesus' word on that.