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News & Events: Baptisms

Having Your Child Baptised At St. Giles

The arrival of a new baby is always something worth celebrating.  Parents’ natural instinct is to bring family, friends and loved ones together in joyful celebration of the latest addition to their family. At this time many people turn to their local church so that they can give thanks to God to celebrate the gift of new life and seek God’s blessing for the child’s future through the service of baptism.

Baptism encompasses all these desires and needs, and here at St. Giles we offer children, their parents and families, a very warm welcome through the service of baptism.  Baptism is of course much more than just a service of thanksgiving and celebration.  The church regards baptism as an act of faith that marks a desire to belong and be part of the Christian community.  At baptism parents and godparents promise to bring children up in the Christian faith until they are old enough to decide their faith for themselves and go forward for Confirmation. 

In order to have your child baptised at St. Giles we would prefer you to live in the parish so that you can forge a link between your family and your parish church, and attend a church that is local.

We do baptise children who live outside the parish, but in this case parents will need to seek the written permission of their local Church of England parish priest who will have to sign a form, which we will give you.  

It is our policy to baptise all first-born children. But in order for brothers or sisters to be baptised, we would look for some involvement and engagement with the church through Sunday School, All Age Worship, or Mother and Toddler groups.   Coming to church needn’t be a chore!  At St. Giles we have a great deal to offer children and young families.  We run an excellent Sunday School which meets three Sundays a month (2nd, 3rd and 4th) in St. Giles’ Centre at 10.00 am, and the first Sunday of the month we hold All Age Worship – a service designed with the needs of children and young families in mind.  Children never forget their experience of church worship and Sunday School.  At St. Giles they will gain knowledge of God’s love and a good foundation of faith that will stay with them and help them for the rest of their lives.

We do recognise and appreciate how busy and hectic modern life can be, and we in no way want to place yet another “ought to” on an already long list of others.  Consequently, once a month attendance at either Sunday School or All Age Worship is fine if this is all that is manageable. 

In order to book a baptism, please phone the parish office (01689 853471) or contact us through e-mail (liz@parishoffice.eclipse.co.uk) and we will be happy to discuss it with you.  Please note that parents and godparents must have been baptised in order for the baby/child to be baptised.  There is no limit to the number of godparents, as long as it is within reasonable bounds.  We would be grateful if you could keep your guest list to a maximum of 40. We sometimes have a number of baptisms on the same day so we need to be able to accommodate all the people who wish to be at the church.

Baptisms are usually preceded by Baptism Preparation and we will be in touch with you about this.  More information will be sent to you prior to the date of your service.

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