Baptisms

If you are interested in having your child baptised at Emmanuel we would love to explore that with you.

We offer two types of service, a service of thanksgiving to thank God for the birth of a child and to pray for the child and their parents; and a service of baptism, where the child is baptised into membership of the church, and their parents and Godparents make a commitment to following Christ, and to raising their child as a member of the church. As baptism is a public declaration that someone has joined the church, we expect the family of the child to attend Emmanuel regularly for several months prior to the baptism, as an expression of their commitment to the church. There is no expectation that you should attend regularly in order to have a thanksgiving for your child.

Both of these services take place within our family service at 9.30 on a Sunday morning. They take place during a church service so that the wider congregation can welcome the new member, and promise to support them in their journey of faith.

If you are a regular at Emmanuel, or if you are new to the church, please talk to the Vicar, Trevor Mapstone, or the Curate, Bridget Shepherd, after the 9.30 service. They will arrange to come and visit you to get to know you better, and to talk things through in more detail. The date for the baptism will be finalised when you have been coming to one of our services regularly. We appreciate that it can be frustrating to wait when you are keen to organise family and friends, but we want to take the time to ensure that people understand the promises that they will be making as fully as possible.

We look forward to getting to know you better, and marking this special event with you!