Life Events – Baptism

Baptism is the oldest of the ceremonies within the Christian Church.  It is a sacrament – a way of God pouring His loving kindness upon us – and marks our entrance into the Church.  We are happy to baptise both babies & young children and older children & adults who can answer for themselves.

Adults and Young People Making the Promises for Themselves

If you would like to be baptised then the first thing is to pop along on a Sunday morning and have a chat with us.  Baptism isn’t a private rite reflecting a private faith but a public act of commitment to Jesus Christ in His Church.  To this end those being baptised affirm their faith in God, determination to live as committed disciples and are, upon baptism, immediately admitted into membership of the Church.  We prepare people for baptism through a mixture of discussion, reflection, prayer and through the experience of weekly worship with us.  You can see the order of service for baptism here – it may be administered by pouring water on your head or through total immersion – where your whole body is immersed in water – in the baptistry of our sister church in Shawlands which was designed for this.  Look at pages 58 and 61 for the proclamation of faith and page 62 for the promises of membership.

Babies and Young Children

It has been traditional for parents to bring their children for baptism since the earliest days of the Church.  Parents wish to give thanks to God for the birth of their child, celebrate the new arrival and promise to bring the child up as a Christian in the context of a local church.  Clearly, when the children are young they can’t make the declaration of faith or the promises for themselves.  In these services the promises are made by parents and godparents who promise to bring the child up as a Christian within the life of the Church.  You can see the order of service here.  Baptism for babies and young children is administered by water being poured on the head.  Look at page 59 for the declaration of faith of the parents, page 61 for the words of Baptism and page 63 for the promises to bring up your child as a Christian.  

 

In both services promises are made; we are sure that God keeps His promise to care for and love us even if we fail in our promises.