PARK HILLS, Mo. (ABP) – A new church building in Missouri prominently lacks one feature common to Baptist churches – a baptistry. It wasn’t an oversight, however, but an intentional decision to keep the focus at New Heights Baptist Church on outreach.
Rocky Good
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"We didn't want to spend the money at this time on a baptistry because we believe it is best to do so [baptize] in public or 'out there,'" said Rocky Good, pastor of the church in Park Hills,Mo.
Since 2003, New Heights has met in living rooms, on porches, in driveways, in park pavilions, at a creative arts center, in school cafeterias, in sister churches and even in a doctor's office.. Members have been baptized in private and public pools, in rivers and in the baptistery of First Baptist Church in Farmington, Mo., which launched New Heights as a mission 10 years ago.
"Baptism is one's public profession of their faith in Christ at New Heights,” Good said, “so we always hope to be doing baptism out there for others to see."
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Vicki Brown is associate editor of Word and Way.