Adoniram & Ann Judson set off for India shortly after their wedding day. What a honeymoon! Once they arrived in India they were going to meet missionaries already working there, specifically William Carey. They knew he was a baptist missionary and expected to be challenged on their baptism views. Both Adoniram & Ann were Congregationalists and did not practice believer's baptism. Those in the baptist church believed baptism was an act only for people who had repented from sin and trusted Jesus for salvation. Only then was a person baptized (immersed) in water.
On their long sea voyage, Adoniram first began to investigate Scripture to determine the appropriate practice and meaning of baptism. Although Ann tried to dissuade him from this investigation, she soon looked to Scripture herself. Before they reached India they had been convinced from their own studies of the biblical practice of believer's baptism. When they were settled in India, they shared their new found conviction with their new friends and fellow missionaries. However, the Judson's also wrote home to their Congregationalists supporters who returned a disheartening letter to inform them they could not in good conscious continue supporting them. Despite the unsettling news, God provided support through new relations found in the Gospel through new Baptist missionary groups formed in the United States.
I pray that GracePointe Baptist Church will be a people who search God's Word and apply it to their lives despite the implications it may have for our social or financial standing. May God be glorified through our lives.
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