Christening is the Church’s special welcome into God’s family.
What Is It?
Christening is the Church’s special welcome into God’s family. People are normally christened as babies, but many are christened as children, young people or adults.
Christening, also know as baptism, is also a decision about joining the Christian community. When people are christened they are declaring that they want to live as a Christian and to grow in their faith as a member of the Church.
What Should I Expect?
When a priest baptises someone, he or she makes the sign of the cross on their forehead, and pours water on their head. Jesus himself was baptised in the river Jordan before he began his ministry of teaching and preaching.
Parents and godparents make the promises for babies and young children who cannot answer for themselves. Parents, godparents and the church family also make promises of their own to provide the person being baptised with the resources, opportunities and encouragement to follow Jesus. They are normally given a lit candle.
When a priest baptises someone, he or she makes the sign of the cross on their forehead, and pours water on their head. Jesus himself was baptised in the river Jordan before he began his ministry of teaching and preaching.
Baptism leads to ‘confirmation’ when young people and adults confirm the decision made on their behalf by their parents and godparents at baptism when they were babies (or young children) or by themselves if they were baptised later on.
What Comes Next?
If you live in the parish and would like your child to be christened (or to be christened yourself), you can contact us.
After you’ve approached us, there will be a short meeting where you get the chance to chat with one of our leadership team about the practicalities of the service, but also around what it means to make the commitment to live as a Christian.
If you want a particular date, you should make arrangements in good time. There will normally be a gap of 2 – 3 months between first contact and the service to allow sufficient time for preparation.
If you do not live within the parish, and are not a regular worshipper at our church, then (under Church of England Regulations) you should approach the priest in the parish where you live to arrange for baptism.