Christening

We sometimes use the words 'baptism' and 'christening' interchangeably – a baby or young child is 'baptised' in a 'christening service'. 

This service is a celebration of God’s love, a mark of belonging to God’s family and a commitment to going together on the journey of faith.   We are delighted to invite babies and children from the parish, or from further afield if their parents attend St Mary's, for a Christening service.   Please download our leaflet "Thinking about a Christening" below to find out what this involves .....

For more details, see the dedicated Church of England Website for Christenings.

Service of Thanksgiving

There may be reasons why you feel a Christening Service is not the appropriate way right now to mark your child’s new life:

• Some parents would rather leave baptism to when their child grows up and decides themselves to be baptised.

• Some parents want a service to mark their child’s birth, but are not yet ready to make the promises about faith that the Christening Service asks.

• Some parents want a small simple service to mark their child’s birth prior to a Christening Service that may take some time to organise.

In these cases, we are delighted to offer a Service of Thanksgiving. This is an appropriate service to invite family and friends to and you can still have a baptism at a later date. Find out more...

Adult Baptism

Where someone was not baptised/christened as a baby, but comes to Christian faith as an adult, baptism can be arranged, usually in the context of a Confirmation Service. The best place to start is to arrange to speak with the a member of the clergy.

Confirmation

Many people who join the church wish to express their commitment to God by reaffirming for themselves the promises made for them at their baptism by their parents and godparents at a confirmation service. A member of the clergy will lead a few sessions to prepare you for this, but the service is always led by a Bishop who will normally use the opportunity to talk to the candidates about the responsibilities of adult Christian life and pray for them. He often addresses the congregation, too, and encourages them to support the candidates in the new step each is taking. Those being confirmed will then make their public profession of faith.

Again, the best place to start is to arrange to speak with a member of the clergy.

For more details see the Church of England website. 

If having read this you want to go ahead with a service at St Mary's please contact the parish office to arrange to meet with a member of the clergy.

There is no cost for any of these services.