Baptisms
The birth of a child is an exciting time in the life of any family. Children are a tremendous gift from God and so parents often want to find a way of giving thanks or see their child grow up in the Christian faith.
We are able to offer two services that you may like to choose for you and your child if you live in the Parish or worship regularly at St James.
Baptism of a child
In a baptism service, the child is baptised on the understanding that they will be brought up within the Christian faith and that their faith will be nurtured in the home and within a local church congregation. In the service, parents and godparents make declarations and promises about their own faith and about their intention to nurture their child’s faith.
Thanksgiving for the gift of a child
A thanksgiving is a short service in which we thank God for the child and pray God’s blessing on them. Parents may choose this service:
- When they want to leave baptism until the child can choose it for himself/herself, but would still like to give thanks for their child.
- When they don’t feel comfortable making the promises and declarations in the baptism service, but recognise that something has happened for which they wish to give thanks to God.
Our Vicar will be able to talk to you about which of these two services would be better for you and your child, but in the first place please contact the Church Office and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
You can find lots of information, including help for organising weddings, baptisms and other special events on the Church of England website