Baptism and Confirmation
Baptism
Baptism (or Christening) is about welcome. Not only is it a welcome into the family of the local church, it is also a welcome into the Christian faith.
Baptism is sign of someone accepting the claims of Jesus Christ, that he is the Son of God, and that he died and rose again for them. Water is used to symbolise our sins being washed away and the desire to lead a new life in relationship with God. When a child is baptised who is too young to understand these things for themselves, parents and godparents make declarations on their behalf, showing their decision to follow Jesus Christ.
Considering baptism gives you a great opportunity for you to explore the Christian faith for yourself. Preparation is very important and involves an initial meeting with one of the clergy and a short course. Baptisms generally take place during the morning service, so that it can be done with the church family. As part of the preparation, we also request that families be part of the church family as much as possible.
Thanksgiving
In some cases a baptism may not be right for your family, or perhaps not yet, so we also offer a Service of Thanksgiving for the Gift of a Child. There is no expectation on parents to make any declarations of Christian faith, and the service can be done at any time to suit you.
If you are enquiring about a Thanksgiving service, please mention this in the Notes section.
If for any reason you don’t hear back from an enquiry using the form please contact the church office directly: office@2bsd.org.uk or 01635 860220
Confirmation
Confirmation is an opportunity for someone who has been baptised as a child to be able to say that they are a Christian and want to follow Jesus Christ.
Confirmation is a significant step in someone’s spiritual life. As such, we would only consider for confirmation those who have become part of the church family, and after appropriate preparation.
If you are interested in being confirmed, please contact the church office in the first instance.
Making an enquiry
If you are not resident in one of our parishes, we encourage you to explore baptism in your local church in the first instance, as adequate preparation is often difficult to achieve at a distance, and so you can build links with your local church community. However, if there are particular reasons for wishing to have your child baptised in one of our parishes, these will of course be considered.
Wherever you are in your faith, we would love to help you on that journey. A great place to start is with one of the courses run by the local churches. See our Exploring Faith page for more information.
During the Vacancy, whilst we are without a Minister in Charge, we regret that we will only be able to baptise people who live in the Parishes of Bradfield, Bucklebury with Marlston or Stanford Dingley.