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Baptisms
CREATING COMMUNITIES OF WHOLENESS WITH CHRIST AT THE CENTRE
Baptism is a big and wonderful thing - to put it mildly. This page attempts to give some information about it. If you'd like to know more or if you'd like your child to be baptised please contact the Vicar via email. We'll fix up a time to come and visit you, invite you to join us at our services and to a preparation evening.
Babies and children - Adults - Godparents - What is baptism? - Promises - Adult baptism - Your commitment - Role of parents and godparents - Who was Jesus? - Following Jesus - What happens next? - Frequently asked questions
If you are thinking about a baptism for a baby it is more than likely that you recently become a parent. CONGRATULATIONS!
If you are an adult you may have recently become a Christian and wish to be baptised. If that is the case then we are delighted that you have chosen to become a follower of Jesus. Alternatively you may feel that you have been a Christian for a long time but were never baptised as a child and you would like that explore that now.
You may have been asked to be a godparent. If so, keep reading, because in the service you will have to make promises about your faith and that of your godchild! Please remember that you need to be baptised in order to be a godparent.
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Some people talk about ‘Christening’, some about ‘Baptism’. These are different ways of describing the same thing. There are many reasons why people want to be baptised or to have their children baptised. What many people don’t realise is that, as well as being a time for celebration, baptism is a big thing, a ‘rite of passage’. People being baptised or, if they are too young, their parents or godparents, make huge promises. There are still people across the world who risk their lives to make these promises to follow Jesus and no one should take them lightly. During the service those taking part commit themselves to following Jesus and, in the case of young children, of teaching them to follow Jesus as they grow up.
Back to topParents’ & Godparents’ Promises When a Child is Baptised
Will you pray for them, draw them by your example into the community of faith [the church] and walk with them in the way of Christ?
With the help of God, I will.
Will you care for them, and help them take their place within the life and worship of Christ’s church?
With the help of God, I will.
In addition to these promises you will also have to acknowledge your own faith in the following words:
Do you turn to Christ? I turn to Christ.
Do you repent of your sins? I repent of my sins.
Do you renounce evil? I renounce evil.
Do you believe and trust in God the Father, source of all being and life, the one for whom we exist? I believe and trust in him.
Do you believe and trust in God the Son, who took our human nature, died for us and rose again? I believe and trust in him.
Do you believe and trust in God the Holy Spirit, who gives life to the people of God, and makes Christ known in the world? I believe and trust in him.
Those being baptised as adults have to express their own wish to be baptised and to acknowledge their own faith. There is also a call for all baptised adults to:
Support the church and its work, both with their time and financially. Christians believe that God has given them everything and that only with him can we live our lives to the full. We believe that Jesus died and rose again for us to make this possible. So we offer him not only our time but also our money, which is then used to support the church locally, nationally and across the world. It’s easy to turn off the TV with all the bad news we hear. Christians are people who see the problems and try to do something to help.
Share their faith with others. You don’t keep good news to yourself! Jesus’ good news is too good to keep to ourselves. Christians try to follow Jesus’ example of telling others [family, friends and neighbours] about God’s love to give them the chance to share in it.
Look forward to enjoying eternal life. What a party that will be with God, in heaven.
Back to topIf you are being baptised you too are committing your life to Jesus. If you are having a child baptised you and your godparents are stating your commitment to Jesus and are promising to bring the children up as Christians. You will make the promises to God. The extent to which you take them seriously will only be known to you and God. But they are not to be taken lightly.
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The Role of Parents and Godparents
There are a number of easy things that parents and godparents can do to help children to learn about Jesus and become part of the life of the church:
* Come to church! Especially to the children’s services
* Get a good children’s bible [available from all good bookshops] and read it with your child
* Pray with your child – perhaps at bed-time, saying thank you to God for everything that’s happened
* Light your Baptism Candle at Easter or the anniversary of your child’s baptism
Whatever you do the most important thing is that you do it together. If you want your children to go and visit friends you don’t just put them on the bus and hope that they’ll get there safely. You go with them. The same is true of learning about Jesus and being part of the church. It’s an amazing journey but it doesn’t just happen.
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Many people only think of the baby Jesus born at Christmas but that’s only the beginning of the story.
Christians believe that God created the world and filled it with wonderful things, including human beings. God loves this world but becomes distressed because we turn our backs on our creator and seem intent on messing up our amazing world.
Over time God sends many people called ‘prophets’ to try and encourage people to come back to God. These prophets are sometimes successful but after a while people fall back into their old ways that only mean misery for them and others.
God is so desperate to show people what they are missing by turning their back on him he does the only thing left. He sends his son Jesus to earth.
This is what makes Christianity unique. No other faith believes that God himself came to live on earth. And it is startling! If you were God would you come and live an ordinary life here?
The Gospels show us what Jesus is like. He’s an ordinary man yet he’s extraordinary. He performs miracles, he heals people, he uses wonderful stories and ideas to teach people about God. He is more interested in those who are struggling than those who are powerful. He takes the side of the poor. He cares for people but he is no pushover. He doesn’t always do or say what people want but he always tells the truth – even when people don’t want to hear it! He lives a life without a permanent home or a secure income. He travels around bringing ‘good news’ to all who will listen.
This good news that Jesus shares is simply that God still loves everyone and if only they will come back to him he will stay with them forever, even beyond death.
Jesus offers people a radical new approach to life. It can seem risky but it’s worth giving everything for. Many people are convinced and follow Jesus; and they still do today.
But some are very threatened by Jesus and plot to put him to death. Those who believe in him are heart-broken and terrified. They’ve committed their lives to him and now he’s gone.
But death is never the end for God. A few days after he is killed Jesus is seen by some of those who have known him. And in the days afterward hundreds of people see him. Jesus is alive again. However hard you try you can’t kill God!
Soon after his resurrection Jesus goes back to heaven but he sends his Spirit to everyone who believes in him. He sends the same Spirit to all those who believe today.
Because we have God’s spirit we know that we’re never alone. We may not be able to see Jesus any more but we know his Spirit is with us to help us live the Christian life, to help us become like Jesus.
Christians believe that Jesus came to earth for our sakes – he wasn’t just a good teacher, a healer, a miracle worker or a wise man. He was all those and more. He was God himself, come to live among us and our messy world to give us all a chance to change, to come back to God who creates us and loves us and welcomes us to celebrate eternity with him.
Jesus sums up his message in the following way, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength, and love your neighbour as yourself’.
Back to topFollowing Jesus today is a commitment, just as it has always been. Christians who follow Jesus today:
Say sorry to God for the things they have done wrong – knowing that they will be forgiven and be able to start again as long as they try not to repeat the same mistakes.
Read the Bible regularly to learn more about God and Jesus and how he wants us to live our lives. Reading the Bible helps us grow in faith and can help us in difficult times. The amazing thing about the Bible is that it’s a living thing. It’s got more drama than you’ll find on the TV, it’s full of poetry and music, wisdom and history. You can read it again and again and always find something new.
Pray, which simply means talking to God about our lives, things we enjoy, things we are thankful for, things we find difficult. No special language, time or place is needed. We pray for those we care about and know well as well as those we have never met but we know are suffering. Jesus tells us that ‘everyone is our neighbour’.
God has promised to be always with us. There is nothing that he isn’t interested in, if we will only talk to him.
Prayer is also about listening to God. We’re often so busy that we don’t give God a chance to talk to us, but he does if we stop and listen.
Prayer is vital if we’re to remain committed to Jesus and able to follow his example. Imagine how long you’d keep your friends if you never talked to them or gave them a chance to speak!
Meet together regularly at church (and at other times) to worship God, to hear what he wants to say to us through the Bible, to pray together for ourselves and the world.
You may think this isn’t necessary, but it is. Being a Christian in today’s world isn’t easy and meeting together helps us support each other, in good times and bad.
Back to topIf you’d like to go to the next stage, after reading all of this and thinking about it, then please get in touch with us.
You may feel ready to make the commitment of baptism, for yourself or your child, or you may feel that you’d prefer a service of dedication and thanksgiving for your child.
A thanksgiving service is in many ways like baptism, a great service followed by a great party. But you don’t make the big promises of faith and commitment to God. The focus is on thanking God for the birth of your child.
Or you may just like an opportunity to talk through the options.
The church is here to help and support you, and whatever way you want to go the next thing to do is to contact the Vicar: Revd. Mike Haslam.
We’ll make a time to come a see you and invite you to our services.
If you’d like a thanksgiving service we can then just set a date.
If you’d like a baptism we’ll invite you and your child’s godparents come to two meetings which will give you a chance to think more about baptism and discuss it with others who are also preparing. It is important that you come to these meetings before the baptism.
Back to topCan I be baptised anywhere?
It’s normal to be baptised in your Parish Church. If you live outside North Swindon, and don’t worship with us, but would like to be baptised in St Andrew’s or St Francis you’ll need to talk to your local Vicar.
How many Godparents do you need?
The minimum number of godparents is two, one man and one woman. It’s normal to have three or four. Godparents do have to be baptised themselves although parents do not.
When are the services?
The actual date for the service, whether baptism or thanksgiving, is flexible. They are normally held during one of our 10.00am services at St Andrew’s or St Francis, or after a service at 11.30am, or at 2.00pm.
You can download this information from here.
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