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In bringing your child for baptism, you are thanking God for his gift of life, making a decision to start your child on the journey of faith and asking for the Church's support on that journey.
The parents and godparents promise to support the child and pray for him or her. They make a decision on behalf of the child to choose good rather than evil and to live in a way which reflects the light of Christ. Godparents play an important role in your child’s life and should be chosen carefully. We recommend no more than four godparents for each child. Godparents must be baptised themselves. Baptisms generally take place at St. John the Evangelist's Church, Hipswell, at 2.30pm on the first Sunday of the month, and also at St. Cuthbert's Church, Colburn, at 2.30pm on the third Sundays of the month. Those wishing to be baptised, or parents bringing children to baptism, are encouraged to attend worship at either St Cuthbert's or St John's before submitting a Baptism Application Form. This enables them to experience worship in the churches beforehand, and to get to know regular members of the worshipping community, who will offer to support them in years to come. The Vicar meets with parents and godparents for baptism preparation before the baptism itself. For adults wishing to be baptised, a longer period of preparation is needed, and usually baptism is followed by confirmation relatively soon afterwards, as it indicates that the individual wishes to take their Christian faith seriously and intends to become a regular communicant member of the Church of England. An excellent approach to adult baptism preparation is Alpha, an internationally-valued faith-exploration course. The next of these to take place in the parish starts on Tuesday 13th September, 2022, with the Alpha Supper at 7pm, followed by 10 friendly sessions, including food, a video presentation, and discussion. If you would like to consider attending this year, please contact the Vicar (see Contacts page). For more detailed information on Church of England Baptisms, please visit the Church of England website by clicking on this link: http://www.cofe.anglican.org/lifeevents/baptismconfirm/baptism1.html If you would like to discuss baptism please contact the Vicar, the Revd Andrew Cromarty (his contact details can be found on the Contacts Page). |
For your child, baptism marks the start of a journey of faith, which involves turning away from all that is evil and turning towards Christ. During the service, the visible signs of oil, the cross, the water and the lit candle are used to show the reality of God’s love and care for your child.