Our Masterton whānau had many reasons to celebrate this past Sunday 21st. As well as the ordinations of Mannie Marara, Lorna Grey and Peter Hull, St Matthew’s also baptised 13 people in a backyard swimming pool.

The morning was a wonderful profession of faith and a real family affair.

The youngest of the group was 4 years old and was baptised along with his parents and three siblings. It was a very special occasion for the family of six who had only joined the church a year ago.

Another family being baptised together consisted of grandparents and their granddaughter. Whilst the grandparents have been Christian for a long time, they had never been baptised and “now was the right time.” The whānau link doesn’t end there either. The granddaughter is in year 8 at St Matthew’s Collegiate School where the parish provides the chaplaincy.

“We’ve had no adult baptisms in ages so to have 13 at once is pretty cool,” says Rev. Pete Watson. Pete also had the privilege of baptising his own children, Zoe and Noah. “Zoe summed up the day pretty well when she said, ‘I feel great but I don’t know why’ when we got home afterwards.”

The children also enjoyed warming up in the spa pool after being dunked in the much colder swimming pool!

Check out more photos on the St Matthew’s Facebook page.