“I baptise you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
In baptism, we thank God for His gift of life and we acknowledge His love. Baptism is one of the first steps Christians take on their journey with Jesus. At St Mary’s Eastham, we welcome people of all ages to be baptised.
Vicar Beth says: “Baptism and Christenings are exactly the same thing. I like both the words. Often I hear people say to me:
- Why have a baby or child christened or baptised anyway?
- What is the point?
- We haven’t got the money!
Years ago, it was a tradition everyone usually did. Now we have moved on, so I thought I could let you know what really happens today.
We are not just putting the child into the Church of England. Churches recognise each other’s baptisms now and our Baptism certificate is valid in all Church denominations.
All children are a gift, we know that, so coming to church to ask for a blessing on the little one’s life; to say that we believe in Christian principles; to place that child into the worldwide family of God; to celebrate with friends and family the new life; and to seal that child to God as h/she grows up, is a joy.
They may not remember it as they grow older in life, but they can claim baptism for themselves. We do lots of adult baptisms as well! You just let me know and I can arrange that.
And we are completely inclusive and baptisms are free of charge.
You can get in touch with me, and my lovely team, Nickie or Suzanne will then get in touch with you. They will ask for details of godparents etc. and arrange a time, usually on a Sunday and always by yourselves (although it can be done in a family service.)
You can come and meet me at one of our 11.00 am monthly J4U Family services, see our coming soon page for details. (I need my cuddles!) The baptism/christening takes place as arranged after that. Later, we invite you to come to back to a family service to get a candle and the child’s baptism certificate. The J4U family services are very relaxed and informal.
If you want to use our church centre afterwards for a social event, free of charge, on a Sunday after the baptism, we can arrange that too!
We have an alcohol licence to drink but not to sell alcohol. There’s also a lovely kitchen and a room for an indoor or outdoor bouncy castle. You can bring your own food etc. Just tidy up when you’re done.
Baptism is a beautiful thing to do – placing children into the arms of our loving God, who created all things; to take a step out of the ordinary and touch the specialness of our God in our ancient and beautiful church and belong.