Denzel Washington is baptized, receives ministerial license

On December 24, 2024By Littum

Denzel Washington is celebrating a big moment for him and his faith.

The Oscar-winning actor, 69, was baptized and received a ministerial license at the Kelly Temple Church of God in Christ in New York on Saturday at a service broadcast on Facebook.

“We celebrate the addition of Minister Denzel Washington to the clergy, having received his ministerial license in the Church of God in Christ today, in a truly uplifting moment,” Archbishop Christopher Bryant wrote on Facebookwhere he shared a photo of Washington’s baptism.

In remarks at the end of the ceremony, Washington recalled how his mother told him, “about the eighth or ninth time I lost an Oscar,” that “man gives the prize, God gives the reward.” He went on to recall that a woman named Ruth Green, who was “known to have the gift of prophecy,” predicted when he was 20 that he would “travel the world and preach to millions of people.”

“fifty years later … if (God) can do this for me, there’s nothing He can’t do for you,” he said. “The sky is literally the limit, and there is no limit to the sky. God is good all the time.”

Washington, if father was pastor of Church of God in Christ, continued that he is “grateful for everything God has given me in 70 years,” including a “loving, faithful wife.” His wife Pauletta Washington joined him for the service. He concluded by saying that “anything and everything that I can do, I will do” for God.

The “Equalizer” star has previously spoken about his faith with Esquire in November. In the article, he said the “greatest moment” of his life was a day he felt “filled with the Holy Spirit” at the West Angeles Church of God in Christ in California.

“God is real. God is love,” he told the magazine. “God is the only way. God is the true way. God blesses. It’s my job to lift God up, to give Him praise, to make sure that anyone and everyone I talk to for the rest of my life understands, that he is responsible for me.”

In the Esquire piece, Washington also said he feels you “can’t say it in this town” because it’s “not fashionable” and “not sexy” to be religious in Hollywood, but “I don’t care what someone thinks.”

Washington is coming off a promotional tour for Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator II,” which earned him an Oscar for his performance opposite Paul Mescal. In an interview with Australia’s “Today” in November, he teased that he might retire after a series of upcoming film projects.