At St Dunstan’s we want to share in the joy and celebration of your new born child. Baptism (or Christening) is the service in which to do so. In it you dedicate your son or daughter to God and you, and the godparents, promise to bring your child(ren) up so that they know about God and about Jesus and you bring them to church so they grow into the practice which will best prepare them for the rest of their lives.
In Baptism you do not give your child a choice about whether to follow a particular religion or not, or even which religion to follow. You make that choice for them. You make the best choice for them in enabling them to grow up and live their lives following Jesus as a Christian. How well they do this is up to you and the godparents, but if successful your child will want to celebrate their Confirmation and receive Communion as they grow into their childhood, teenage years and beyond.
What to do next:
Baptisms take place as part of our main 10.15 service on specifically agreed Sundays at a maximum of once a month.
Baptism forms a unique and special three-fold relationship between your child, God, and your child’s local church. We feel the latter is important so we therefore encourage everybody looking for a Baptism to make contact with their local parish church. If you live within our parish we will be delighted to hear from you. (If your local church is not St Dunstan’s we will advise you of your local church and how to contact them.)
Please contact our Parish Office by e-mail or phone – office.stdunstans@gmail.com or 01435 873484 – and let them have the name of your child, your names, an e-mail address, phone number and home address. We will then arrange a mutually convenient visit to agree a date for the service and to answer any questions you may have about your child’s Baptism.
We can talk about godparents – who must be baptised members of a Christian church (this includes the Church of England, Roman catholic church, Evangelical churches and any churches who are affiliated to Churches Together in England, it also includes members of the Salvation Army) – and about their role in bringing up your child as a member of the Christian church.
After this, as part of the preparation and so that you are aware of the style and format of our worship and your child(ren) becomes aware of the church, we ask you to come to a 10.15 service on a Sunday morning on at least two occasions before the Baptism Sunday.
We look forward to welcoming you to St Dunstan’s.
Fr Michael Asquith