Report by Akela.

The father of one of our Cubs is the minister of the Stockwood Free Church and he was approached regarding a visit, so that the Cubs could find out a bit more about the ways our local churches work.

We were due to walk from the Scutt to the Church, but as Hathi had been detained at work it was easier to coerce some of the parents into bussing the cubs the half mile to the church (and it was raining, but only a little bit, so the Sun God had a built-in excuse with Hathi working)

We were welcomed into the Church, which is a Baptist Church, and the Cubs were asked to sit and Reverend Ireland explained how the Baptist Church came into being, and how John the Baptist had Baptised Jesus.

This led onto an exciting bit, when the Church’s Baptistery was shown and the Cubs were invited down one at a time so they could see how a baptism would take place with the person who was to be baptised totally submersed in the water. This impressed the Cubs and they wanted to know all about how the water got in and then out again and for one or two of the sadist amongst them, was the water heated or did the church do the baptism with freezing cold water, after all the river water for Jesus would have been cold!!

After this the Cubs moved their chairs and sat in a circle around a small table upon which was some bread and some ‘wine’ (we used blackcurrant juice). Reverend Ireland explained the symbolism of the bread and the wine and how he used it the services he conducted. The Cubs passed the bread and broke some and took a small glass of ‘wine’ so that they all had the experience of communion

The cubs asked lots of questions and all were answered, following some refreshments and a quick game of balloon netball, we walked back to the Scutt, where Hathi and the parents were waiting for us.

Many thanks to Stockwood Free Church and the Reverend Andrew Ireland for their hospitality, his patience and a very interesting evening.

(For those who don’t know, the water is warmed so it’s not too much of a shock to the system)