South Africa Partner Removed From Church For Being Baptized

We sit down with our 30-30 Ministries' South African partner Zeriah Wessels with Africa Expectation Safari.

Zeriah gave her life to Jesus in 2011. During our first 30-30 Ministries' Camp together in August 2018, Zeriah made a decision that she wanted to follow through with believer's baptism. She asked 30-30 Ministries Director Brad Gill if he would baptize her, and he was blessed to have the honor.

"I wanted to shout it from the roof tops," Zeriah said days, weeks and months after her baptism.

The sad news was that her current church in the Limpopo Providence of South Africa didn't approve of her act of obedience in publicly proclaiming that Jesus Christ was her Lord and Savior and that she was saved in 2011. Their reasoning was that adults couldn't be baptized, stating that adult baptism is only for the vilest of sinners and that any spiritual decision Zeriah made earlier in life, whether that was baby baptism or through a teenaged confirmation process, was shrugged off and didn't mean anything.

"I didn't know what I was saying, 'Yes' to," Zeriah shares about her confirmation process in front of the church when she was in the 11th grade.

It wasn't until she was an adult that she fully understood and gave her life to Jesus. The Holy Spirit told her very clearly during our first Camp together in 2018 that it was time for her to be baptized in front of her husband Craig, the 30-30 Ministries' team and the group of 30-30 Ministries' campers who were present.

However, as she went to share the wonderful news with her friends at church, they passed along the information to the pastor and elders, and she was removed from the church body.

"It was a very difficult time for me," said Zeriah.

We invite you to listen to Zeriah share her difficult story of being removed from a South African church for following through with The Great Commission, a command given by Jesus Christ.

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