Baptism & Thanksgiving
If you have a new child in your household, many congratulations! The first weeks, months and even years of a child’s life are often a very special, busy, exciting and tiring time for a family. It is also a time when many families want to give thanks to God for the arrival of their child, marking that occasion in a special way with family and friends.
If you would like to have an initial conversation about a service for your child, please contact Stewart
We offer two special services to families:
1. Blessing
A Blessing - or to give it its full legal name: "Thanksgiving for the gift of a child" - is a celebration for parents and families to give thanks for the birth or adoption of a child. It can take place in the main Sunday service, or at another time that best suits your family and friends.
We will pray for God’s blessing on the child, and supporting friends will promise to help and encourage the parents as they bring up their baby.
If you want to thank God for the gift of your child and ask for his blessing, but you don't feel ready for the solemn promises that baptism involves, then blessing is for you.
Some families choose to have a Blessing because they want to wait until their child is older and can decide to be baptised themselves. If you choose to have a Blessing there is always the opportunity to have a baptism at a later date.
2. Baptism
Often known as christening, in this service, parents thank God for his gift of their child and publicly make a decision to bring your child up as an active part of the church.
Water is poured over the child’s head as a sign of what Jesus has done for them, and a seal of God's promises.
In a baptism service, parents and godparents declare their faith in Jesus Christ, and promise to pray for and bring your child up to know Jesus, reading the Bible with them, praying with them, and bringing them to church week by week.
Baptism services always take place during our main Sunday services so that the whole church can welcome your child and pray with you that they will grow up to understand God's promises to them and grow in their own faith in Jesus.
Baptism is for the children of parents who are - or would like to be - active and practising Christians.
If you're not part of the church community already, the first thing to do is come along to church and meet us one Sunday morning. You can have a chat with our Minister Stewart who will invite you to take part in a Baptism Preparation Course (normally 3x1 hour sessions). These are very informal and relaxed and there will be lots of opportunity for questions. You can then make an informed decision about whether baptism is right for you.
Godparents
If you choose to have a baptism service, you will need to choose godparents. You might already have some in mind but here are a few things to bear in mind that might help you decide:
- Because of the very special role godparents have in supporting your child’s faith journey, they should be committed Christians and they need to have been baptised themselves. Ideally they should be confirmed too but this is not essential.
- If the people who you'd like to be godparents aren't baptised, they can still be involved in the baptism service and in your child's life as they grow up.
- Godparents will be people who’ll be in touch with your family for many years to come. They may be relatives or friends of the family.
- They’ll be people who you know you can trust and who’ll be there for your child to talk about questions of life and faith.
- They should feel ready to make some big promises about faith for your child in church.
- Every child should have at least three godparents, two of the same sex and at least one of the opposite sex to your child. Although there is no official maximum number of godparents, three or four is usual.
- Parents may be godparents for their own children, providing they have at least one other godparent.
- If you’re thinking about asking someone who is under 18 to be a godparent, talk to your vicar first. There’s no minimum age for godparents, but they must be mature enough to understand the responsibilities they’re taking on.