• Poland Hosts Jehovah’s Witnesses
    Awake!—1989 | December 22

    • The Baptism

      Everyone, whether able to speak Polish or not, was overwhelmed by the thrilling spectacle of the baptism. In Warsaw a large number of chairs had been placed on the playing field immediately in front of the platform to seat the baptismal candidates. But during the morning program, it was exciting to see attendants hastily moving additional chairs onto the field as the group of candidates continued to grow. Then, when the baptism talk was to begin, the huge audience grew quiet. They were about to experience something they would never forget. As the speaker welcomed the baptism candidates, the entire stadium broke into spontaneous applause. And then, as if by prearranged signal, but in reality triggered by overflowing hearts moved by God’s spirit, the candidates responded by enthusiastically waving their hands in greeting to the overflow audience encircling them.

      The candidates’ public declaration of faith in answer to the two questions generally asked of candidates sounded clear and determined​—and indeed many of them had come to this step of dedication through much hardship and trial. Following a prayer, the candidates separated into two groups and walked from the stadium as the audience sang “To God We Are Dedicated.” The brothers exited from the field through a tunnel leading to their dressing rooms, while the sisters went through another tunnel leading to theirs. Attendants and immersers, all dressed in white, took up their positions, and immediately the candidates, attired in modest swimsuits, began to stream back onto the field, where 12 baptismal pools had been set up, 6 on one end of the field for the sisters, and 6 on the other end of the field for the brothers.

      Enthusiastic applause continued through the 45 minutes during which 1,905 were baptized in Warsaw. (The previous week, 1,525 had been baptized at Poznan and 2,663 at Chorzów, for a grand total of 6,093, or 3.7 percent of the peak attendance.) At least two crippled brothers were lovingly lifted from their wheelchairs before being baptized, including one who had been brought out onto the field on a stretcher to listen to the baptism talk.