Baptisms

Having your child baptised

Thank you for your interest in having your child baptised in our parish. Here we share some information so that you can fill out the Application Form and help us to make your child’s baptism a meaningful event in his/her life.

When you make contact with us, we will let you know if the date you have in mind for your child's baptism is available. Once you have submitted the below Application Form, we will process it and return it to you confirming the arrangements. Only at that time is the date of your child's baptism secure.

What is Baptism?

Baptism is the mark of becoming a member of the church. It is often also the first public ceremony in a young child’s life and marks their membership not only of the Christian faith, but of the local community.

In the service we remind ourselves of what Christians believe and then welcome a new member by baptising them (with water) and christening them (with oil). These are two symbols of new life that we understand comes from following Christ in our daily lives. At the end of the service the newly baptised person is given a lighted candle as a sign that they go out of the church building and into the world as a sign of God’s love for creation.

When baptisms normally take place

Baptisms normally take place a little while after the morning service. However the officiating priest may also offer a Baptism later, on a Sunday afternoon. In the case of St Augustine's Church, our normal Sunday service time is 10.00 am, so the normal time for Baptism is about 12.30 pm.

Godparents

A child being baptised must have at least two godparents (though normally people choose to have three people as godparents). The role of the godparent is to take an ongoing interest in the growth and development of the child – in particular encouraging them morally and spiritually. For this reason it is important that they have (themselves) been baptised, and preferably also confirmed.

To make a booking...

Contact Adele Dixon, Churchwarden, by email @ [email protected] or phone the church on 07398 567677 and leave a message.

'One Lord, one faith, one baptism...'  Ephesians chapter 4 verse 5.