So you’re thinking about a christening for your child?

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We want to offer you the warmest possible welcome to our church, and are really pleased that you have enquired about a christening.

There are two services you will want to think about. It is our task to help you decide on the most appropriate service for you and your child.

 

The first option is a ‘Service of Thanksgiving & Blessing’.

With this service a family celebrates the arrival of a new child within the family, names their child and prays for God’s blessing. Godparents and all your family and friends promise to be there for you and your child. Parents are not required to make declarations about their own Christian faith, or to promise to come to church regularly, although we would love it if you did decide to become part of our church family. Some parents might choose this service if they want to allow their child to choose for themselves, when they are older, to be baptised. The service usually takes place outside a main Sunday morning service and can be arranged on a date to suit you – normally around lunch time on a Sunday. Someone from the church would visit you to talk about the service before the actual day.

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This service reflects what Jesus did when he took children in his arms and blessed them.

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The second option is a ‘Baptism Service’.

Baptism is a welcome into the family of the church and it will take place during a Sunday Morning Service, and is only available on certain dates. Baptism is a public sign of allegiance to Jesus Christ and a decision to follow Him, as part of the Church, the people of God. During this service parents and godparents, who themselves must have been baptised, make public declarations about their own faith, and promise to bring up their child as part of their local church. If you would like to do this we think it’s important that you get to know us before the baptism – as you come along to church the few weeks prior to the baptism. We would also like to visit you at home to talk about the promises you are going to make as it is wholly unfair of the church to expect parents to make these promises without finding out what it all entails.

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Services including baptisms are at 11am. If you think Baptism is right for you and your child we would set the date when you have been along to church a few times.

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The choice is yours

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This is a big, important decision and we want to help you to make the right one for your family. So we think it is vital that parents take the opportunity to see the church in action before deciding whether they wish to be part of it, and to raise their child within it. So we encourage you to ‘Come and see!’ Join us for Sunday worship for a few weeks before you decide which service you think is right for your family – we would love to get to know you.

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It is important to emphasise that the choice is yours. We would be delighted to get to know you whichever option you think is right. However, we won’t be able to confirm the date for a baptism, if this is what you decide on, until after you have had a chance to get to know our church, and our church family.

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Steve would be more than happy to discuss the process with you further and we hope that, as a family, you choose to join our church family.