Baptisms and Thanksgivings

We are delighted that you are looking to have your child baptised at our church.  We look forward to getting to know you and welcoming you into our church community.  Below is some basic information which you need to know.

Baptism eligibility
Baptism is the start of a lifetime’s journey with God. It is a practice used to represent one’s commitment to Jesus. Adults and young people can declare their own faith and commitment. For young children not yet able to speak for themselves, there is a commitment on the part of their parents and Godparents to bring them up within the Christian family. It is therefore a practice with great spiritual significance and a wonderful way of introducing someone into the Christian community.

In this parish infant baptism is offered to families who are regular worshippers at KPC or live in the parish. When baptising a child, both parents should be baptised and confirmed, as should the Godparents. This is because you are making a commitment to raise your child within the Christian Church, and so you are expected to have made this commitment yourself.

You can read more about the baptism service on the Church of England website – it explains the what happens in church and the symbolic actions we use.

If you have not been baptised and wish your child to be baptised, you should discuss how you wish to proceed with a member of the clergy. If you are uncomfortable making the baptism promises, you may want to consider a Service of Thanksgiving as a first step. You will still have a special service and a celebration, but you won’t say things which you are not certain about. When you are ready to make the promises in the Baptism service, you can then go on to that as the next step. 

Preparation and process
Baptism is a celebration of the whole congregation. This means it is always held during our main 9:30am Sunday services, usually on the second Sunday of the month with the following preparation  in place:

• Baptism Welcome meeting - come to the 4th Sunday of the month 9:30am family service followed by an informal chat in Guild House afterwards.
  Please complete our contact us form to let us know you're planning to visit. 
• Catch up and coffee with our Children and Families Minister Clare Fillingham: clare.fillingham@kpc.org.uk.
• Home visit - Clergy + 1 baptism team member will visit you and follow up after the ‘welcome’ Sunday
• Baptism Service - 2nd Sunday of the month with up to 2 baptisms taking place in each service (availability will be provided by the baptism team at the Welcome meeting. Usually 4 month lead time.)
• Follow up visit - catch up about next steps and ongoing support

If you are not a worshipping member of one of our congregations, but would like a service of baptism for your child, we would encourage you to worship with us on a regular basis. We would also need written permission to baptise your child from your local parish church if this is not Knowle.

A Thanksgiving for a Child is also held in the 9:30am service and you may have ‘sponsors’ or ‘supporters’ instead of godparents; this is because they do not make formal commitments of faith nor do they themselves need to have been baptised, as is the case with godparents at a baptism.
 
What to do now
The first thing to do is to attend our 9:30am Family Sunday Service and if not already a member of our church, introduce yourself to one of our welcome team members. The next step would be to attend our ‘Baptism Welcome’ meeting in The Guild House (opposite church entrance) after attending the 9:30am service on the 4th Sunday of the month. The baptism team will explain the process and ask you to complete a baptism application form. Once this meeting has taken place and the completed form has been returned to the Parish Office we will be able to look at dates for you. The lead time for a baptism is around 4 months due to existing families in this process.

Read more about activities offered at the church for parents with young children.

Not all Christians are baptised as babies. We celebrate the baptism of adults too! If you wish to be baptised as an adult, please contact our Parish Office.