Baptism at St George's church
We will be delighted if you wish to have your child baptised at St. George’s. This page is designed to give information and answer your questions and to raise others you may wish to ask.
Some of the church's new thinking may involve a different approach to baptism than the one you may have experienced with any older children you may have, or baptisms you have attended elsewhere.
Who can be baptised?
Anyone who has not been baptised already. It is a symbol of God’s unconditional love for the baptised so there are no bars to your child whether you are married or partners, divorced or separated, a single parent or an adopting couple ; whether you have great faith or little, attend church regularly or never; whether you are gay or straight, God loves you and your child!
Do we have to fulfil any requirements?
Some churches demand that families attend church services for a number of weeks or months before they will even talk about baptism, others expect parents to be baptised, still others insist on parenting skills courses or attending an ‘Alpha’ course on discipleship.
Some of these are good things in their own right, but not as conditions that have to be met in order for baptism to take place. All we hope is that you will respond to God’s love shown in the ceremony, and we will support you in that, if that would help you.
We do not make any conditions such as those outlined above BUT ...
- We have set Sundays for baptisms; so please do not make any family arrangements until a date has been agreed with the rector.
- Baptisms in Pontesbury take place during the main 10:30 Sunday Service.
- This is logical in as much as part of the service is asking the local church to support you in prayer and action in the bringing up of your child, so they need to be a welcoming community to you all. This does not happen if the baptism is on a Sunday afternoon with none of the church fellowship present.
- Parents, God parents, church and family are all involved and all need to be present together at the ceremony.
- We realise that this may well mean that people from away will need to stay overnight, as they would for a wedding, and that Christening teas will become Christening lunches.
- We are also aware that there may be people attending who might be uneasy about church attendance, so there is a choice of services on offer:
- Formal Parish Communion
- Informal Holy Communion
- Informal, non-Eucharistic, All Age Worship
- The churchwardens will let you know the relevant dates for each type of service in the foreseeable future, and ask you to choose a favourite hymn.
- St. George’s is a lively, friendly and welcoming church, people from 9 weeks to 99 years old are very soon put at their ease.
Are there any charges for baptism?
No, there are none. There will be the usual collection as part of the service. If anyone wishes to make a donation we are grateful for that, but do not expect it .
Do I have to get anyone else’s permission?
- If you are a single parent, the permission of the other parent must be sought. Talk about this with the rector when he calls.
- If you live in another parish but, for good reason, want your child baptised at St. George’s, you will have to write to inform your local Parish Priest, with a copy to the rector.
- Good reasons might include: Pontesbury is where you were married, where your family home is, where you worship regularly.
- Ideally baptism should take place in the parish in which you live so that the church community there can care and pray for you as a family.