Is God cool? - Baptist

All the other members of my immediate family are Baptists, like me. It's a Christian church, and the fundamental belief is in Jesus as our Saviour and Lord. I guess what makes us different to other faiths is that we baptise believers. Sometimes people do react a bit funny when you tell them you're a Baptist. It's such a minority faith here (about 1,000 in the Republic), and people tend to associate it with America only.

People make their own personal decision to be baptised, so it doesn't happen at set times in your life; it can happen much later, when you're an adult.

Every few months, the pastor holds inquiry classes about baptism. There's a series of four classes over four weeks, which teaches you about the fundamental beliefs of the church and baptism itself. After the classes, you make your own personal decision about whether the time is right for you to be baptised. There's no pressure put on you.

I was baptised last year, in March. Sometimes there are a couple of people who are baptised at the same time, but there was only me on that occasion. The ceremony was part of the normal church service; it involved me giving my own personal testimony of faith.

Then we went to the special immersion pool, which is in the church at Grosvenor Road. You don't have to wear any special robes. I wore trousers and a shirt: things I could change out of easily. The water in the pool is waist-high. I stood in it, with a pastor of the church and an elder. They asked me a couple of questions, then I leaned back and they held me while my body was totally immersed in the water.

All my family and close friends were watching, as well as the church. There aren't any special gifts you get when you're baptised, but I did get some cards and books. Afterwards, my close friends and family had a meal back in our house.

To me, being baptised was a public profession of my faith. It's like a badge of faith, a visual way of showing people what I believed in.