The Waterside Churches - Christenings
To arrange a christening, confirmation or baptism for an adult, please complete the form on our Contact page, and we'll get back to you quickly.
To arrange a christening, confirmation or baptism for an adult, please complete the form on our Contact page, and we'll get back to you quickly.
Christening
Christening
Everyone is welcome to have their children christened in their parish church, and we are always delighted to host such a joyful day. Christenings at Church can be during a service or held as a separate occasion. Whenever it is done, your child will be baptized and with the support of the church, you and godparents, your child begins an amazing journey of faith.
All you need to know about planning and going to a Church of England christening can be found on: churchofenglandchristenings.org.
There are no fees for baptism services. However, there is a charge of £13.00 for a certificate.
The fee for a certificate issued at the time of baptism is for a certified copy of the entry in the register book of baptisms giving the particulars required in Form No 1 in Schedule 1 to the Parochial Registers and Records Measure 1978. The fees payable for a certified copy of the full entry issued at any other time are the fees prescribed for searching registers of baptisms and burials and, if applicable, for each additional copy of an entry in such a register.
To arrange a christening, please contact our our administrator, Esther, by filling in the form on our Contacts page. We'll be in touch quickly in response.
Confirmation
Confirmation
Congratulations on wanting to explore confirmation. It is important to see confirmation as a part of your journey in faith in Christ and not in isolation.
The first move is to use our Contacts page to speak to the vicar. He will invite you to attend a confirmation course. This is a good way to explore your faith with others who are thinking about confirmation and is a safe place to ask any questions you have about God, Jesus and the journey of faith.
Confirmation marks the point in the Christian journey at which you affirm for yourself the faith into which you have been baptized and your intention to live a life of committed discipleship. This affirmation is confirmed through prayer and the laying on of hands by the confirming bishop. The Church also asks God to give you power through the Holy Spirit to enable you to live in the way of Jesus.
Your confirmation will be led by the bishop and will take place in the cathedral.
There may be a rehearsal before the confirmation service so that you understand everything that happens in the service. The priest will make sure you know where to sit and when you need to move. Some parts of the service will be for the whole congregation to join in; some will be for just you and the other confirmation candidates to say.
Most of the confirmation service will normally take place at the front of the church, but for the renewal of baptism promises, candidates may be asked by the bishop to gather around the font.
The bishop will speak to every candidate by name saying:
(name), God has called you by name and made you his own.
He then lays his hand of the head of each saying:
Confirm, O Lord, your servant with your Holy Spirit.
The Church of England has two authorized confirmation services. One is taken from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and is in 17th century English. Most confirmations use a service in contemporary English, taken from Common Worship (2000).
Read the text of the Common Worship service.
Making decisions and promises
When you were baptized as a child, your parents and godparents were asked to declare publicly on your behalf that they believed in God and that they would bring you up to follow Jesus. They were asked to answer, on your behalf, that you had decided to turn away from everything which is evil or sinful and instead to turn towards Christ. At confirmation, you will renew these decisions and promises.
The declarations made by you will be made in front of the church congregation; the local Christian community will promise to support you and pray for you.
The sign of the cross - the bishop will make the sign of the cross on your forehead with oil. This is a sign of the outpouring of God's Holy Spirit. It is like an invisible badge to show that Christians are united with Christ and must not be ashamed to stand up for their faith in him.
The role of sponsors
At Baptism, Godparents stood alongside your parents to make the same promises on behalf of the child being baptized. At confirmation you may be asked if you would like a sponsor to stand with you as a symbol of their journeying with you in faith. Usually this is someone who has previously been confirmed. It may be one of the people who has prepared you for confirmation or it may be a youth worker, a good friend, a relative, or a Godparent.
Taking communion
It is normal for Confirmation to be followed straight away by Holy Communion, although in cases where confirmation has not taken place in a candidate's parish church they may instead take Communion for the first time in that church on the following Sunday.
Baptism for Adults
Baptism for Adults
If you are mature enough to make your own decisions and you've decided you'd like to be baptized, you'll have a baptism service that is designed for adults.
You may have been going to church for a while and want to make a more definite commitment in terms of your Christian faith. For adults and young people, baptism usually takes place shortly before, or at the same time, as confirmation. Confirmation is the service when those who have previously been baptized affirm those promises and are specially prayed for by a Bishop.
What is baptism?
Baptism is a response to God's love - a desire and a commitment to respond to God's call to follow the example of Jesus Christ. It is also a celebration, a time to come together with family and friends; remembering that you are loved by God, are part of a wider community and have a place with God's people.
The baptism service
The baptism service is similar to the service for a child's baptism, except that because you make the decision and the promises yourself, there is no role required for parents or godparents (who make decisions and promises on behalf of a child).
You may decide to have supporting friends or 'sponsors' - this can be anyone who wishes to encourage you in your Christian faith. It may be a friend, or someone in your family and you may have more than one person if you wish.
You are referred to as a 'candidate' throughout the service and all the parts which refer to a child, parents and godparents aren't included when an adult is being baptized. The vicar will make these adjustments.
At the point you are baptized, you may be either fully immersed in water, or, you may simply have water poured or wiped on your head. The vicar doing your baptism will tell you what usually happens in your church.
Your vicar will probably suggest that you prepare for your baptism by reading a relevant book or by attending meetings or events in the church that will help you think about this new beginning. Most churches will offer a short course to prepare for confirmation and if both are happening in the same service, your vicar will invite you to attend these sessions.
Contacting your vicar
If you are considering being baptized, and would like more information, please use our Contacts page, and we'll get back to you quickly. .