Prison sees three ‘emotional’ baptisms

Three prisoners have been baptised at HMP Chelmsford after attending weekly Bible studies run by Daylight Christian Prison Trust.

“It was a very emotional service, and other prisoners attending were clearly moved,” said CEO Gaius Phillingham. Alex, Douglas and Hugh shared how God had worked in their hearts and lives.

Another prisoner who witnessed the baptisms has approached a chaplain and asked: “Why not me, I can say what they said, could I be baptised?” Gaius added: “It was a joy to hear from an officer that one of the candidates is ‘a changed man’, and to hear him give testimony that it is because he is now the Lord’s.”

But he said not all prisoners who become believers decide to be baptised.

“Last year,” he said, “another gentleman, soundly saved during his sentence, chose to wait for baptism. His witness to the Lord’s saving grace was clear to all inside; he trained as a Listener (think Samaritans for prisoners), he would frequently invite others to church and Bible study, and he was an encourager of many. But he planned, with the church that received him on release, to be baptised by full immersion during a Sunday service in the first days of his new life on the outside. God is at work in our prisons.”