Christ Church Freemantle
Baptism (or Christening) at Christ Church Freemantle
We are delighted that you are thinking about having your child baptised, or being baptised here yourself. This leaflet is designed to answer some initial questions and to let you know how to go about organising the baptism. Baptism is about being welcomed into the family of God as represented by the local church so we believe it’s really important that we get to
know you and you get to know us. Most often baptisms take place in your parish church, you can find out which parish you live in here www.achurchnearyou.com. If you live in a different parish but have a connection to Freemantle (e.g. you were married here or baptised here yourself) then that is almost always ok too, please ask! We generally conduct baptisms on the 3rd Sunday of the month at our main 10.00am service. As we are in a vacancy at the moment, the service will be conducted by another local priest, and we’ll make sure you know who is doing it before the day. There may be up to three families having their children baptised at the same service. Most people plan about 3 months ahead but of course it’s fine to be thinking further in advance. Please don’t book anything else (such as a party venue) until your date is confirmed.
First Steps
We ask that you come to a church service to meet people in our church community and to speak to our Parish Clerk, Gwen Kitcher who will arrange your baptism. You will be given an application form, and have a chance to talk about which dates might be best for you and your family.
Once your date has been fixed, then the priest who will be carrying out your baptism will arrange to meet with you, to talk about what it means and to look at the promises you will be making. We also encourage you to continue to come to church a few times in the time before your child’s baptism. This helps you get to know us and we you, and to understand
more about what faith and church mean. If you have older children there is a children’s group in the 10:00am service on the 1st, 2nd & 4th Sundays of each month and the 3rd Sunday the 10:00am service is All Age, often with
children’s activities.
Godparents
It’s good to have thought in advance about Godparents.The following comes from www.churchofenglandchristenings.org which is a great website to help you with your questions.
Godparents will be people who’ll be in touch with your family for many years to come. They may be relatives or friends of the family. They’ll be people who you know you can trust and who’ll be there for your child to talk about the bigger questions in life; questions about faith, hope and love.
They should feel ready to make some big promises about faith for your child in church. Every child should ideally have three godparents, two of the same sex and at least one of the opposite sex to your child. You can have more than three godparents if you wish. Parents may be godparents for their own children, providing they have at least one other
godparent. Because of the very special role they have in supporting your child’s faith journey, godparents must be baptised themselves, and ideally confirmed too, but check with the vicar about local policy on this. If you have a child over about 6 or 7 years old then they need to understand what it means for them, and that they are okay with making the promises too. We can arrange preparation for them that helps them understand more. If you or another adult (15/16 plus) wishes to
get baptised then it would be good to have a chat about baptism and confirmation together.
Questions?
If you have further questions then please do email back and we’ll get them answered.
know you and you get to know us. Most often baptisms take place in your parish church, you can find out which parish you live in here www.achurchnearyou.com. If you live in a different parish but have a connection to Freemantle (e.g. you were married here or baptised here yourself) then that is almost always ok too, please ask! We generally conduct baptisms on the 3rd Sunday of the month at our main 10.00am service. As we are in a vacancy at the moment, the service will be conducted by another local priest, and we’ll make sure you know who is doing it before the day. There may be up to three families having their children baptised at the same service. Most people plan about 3 months ahead but of course it’s fine to be thinking further in advance. Please don’t book anything else (such as a party venue) until your date is confirmed.
First Steps
We ask that you come to a church service to meet people in our church community and to speak to our Parish Clerk, Gwen Kitcher who will arrange your baptism. You will be given an application form, and have a chance to talk about which dates might be best for you and your family.
Once your date has been fixed, then the priest who will be carrying out your baptism will arrange to meet with you, to talk about what it means and to look at the promises you will be making. We also encourage you to continue to come to church a few times in the time before your child’s baptism. This helps you get to know us and we you, and to understand
more about what faith and church mean. If you have older children there is a children’s group in the 10:00am service on the 1st, 2nd & 4th Sundays of each month and the 3rd Sunday the 10:00am service is All Age, often with
children’s activities.
Godparents
It’s good to have thought in advance about Godparents.The following comes from www.churchofenglandchristenings.org which is a great website to help you with your questions.
Godparents will be people who’ll be in touch with your family for many years to come. They may be relatives or friends of the family. They’ll be people who you know you can trust and who’ll be there for your child to talk about the bigger questions in life; questions about faith, hope and love.
They should feel ready to make some big promises about faith for your child in church. Every child should ideally have three godparents, two of the same sex and at least one of the opposite sex to your child. You can have more than three godparents if you wish. Parents may be godparents for their own children, providing they have at least one other
godparent. Because of the very special role they have in supporting your child’s faith journey, godparents must be baptised themselves, and ideally confirmed too, but check with the vicar about local policy on this. If you have a child over about 6 or 7 years old then they need to understand what it means for them, and that they are okay with making the promises too. We can arrange preparation for them that helps them understand more. If you or another adult (15/16 plus) wishes to
get baptised then it would be good to have a chat about baptism and confirmation together.
Questions?
If you have further questions then please do email back and we’ll get them answered.
