170 People Baptized in the Sea After One Social Media Post
It started with a simple invitation online.
Merlin Kraft, known as BibleLadUK, posted about baptism. People began messaging him: “Can I be baptized like this?” He talked with his pastor at Calvary Chapel Plymouth. Then he opened the invitation wider.
On September 5, 2026, at Bigbury-on-Sea in South Devon, 170 people walked into the ocean and were baptized. They came from across Britain and even from Ireland. Some had been believers for years. Some were brand new. Some had waited a long time for the chance to declare publicly: “I belong to Jesus Christ.”


Ordinary People, Extraordinary Hunger
Kraft later said he is still in disbelief. “I put the invitation online. God did the rest.”
The stories stayed with him. A woman on the beach took a free Bible and then decided to be baptized. A young couple traveled from Leeds and walked the final hours through fields. A man came alone from Ireland. An older woman journeyed from Fife in Scotland. Families, new believers, and people with difficult pasts stood in the water and made the same public confession.
A gospel message was preached. Bibles and tracts were handed out. People were pointed toward local churches. Afterward there was a free barbecue so the crowd could stay and fellowship.


Signs of Something Larger
The Bigbury baptism follows similar open-air gatherings earlier in the year, including more than 120 people baptized over two weekends near Bournemouth. Kraft has spoken of a growing openness he has not seen before — men asking which Bible to buy because they want to follow Jesus, people more ready to talk about faith.
“Whatever the explanation,” he said, “there is clearly a hunger for Jesus.”
In a culture that often treats Christianity as private or outdated, 170 people chose the most public step possible. They walked into the sea in front of strangers and said with their bodies what their hearts already knew.
Jesus is Lord.
I belong to Him.
That is the latest inspirational Christian story of the moment — not a celebrity stage, but a British beach, a social media post, and a crowd that answered the call.
All glory to God.