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Baptism
Information and Commonly Asked Questions
For a downloadable version of the baptism/thanksgiving booklet, please click the following link: Thanksgiving/Baptism booklet
There are several sections to this topic; please pick the one you would like to read or scroll down to find the information you are interested in.
- Service of Thanksgiving or Baptism?
- Infant Baptism
- Adult Baptism
- Common Questions
- A Useful Guide to Godparents
Service of Thanksgiving or Baptism?
In this parish, infant baptism is offered to Christian families who are regular worshippers in each of our churches. Such families are able, with integrity, to make the promises required to bring their children up as worshipping members of the Christian community. The congregation are also able to keep their promises, made in Baptism services, to support families in helping the children to grow up in the Christian faith. A service of thanksgiving is offered to every family in the parish who receives the gift of a child.
If you choose to have a Thanksgiving, you may also have a Baptism service for your child at a later date. In fact, for families who are new to the church, and are considering Baptism for their child, the Thanksgiving Service can also serve as an opportunity to introduce them and their child formally to the rest of the church, and to invite the congregation to pray for them as they consider Baptism.
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 join one of our churches and worship with us on a regular basis.
If you are unsure as to which would be suitable for your child, come to Vestry hour (5.30 pm on Sunday evenings in Aston Parish Church Vestry) where one of the clergy would be happy to advise you.
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Infant Baptism
Baptism marks the beginning of a journey with God which continues for the rest of a child’s life. As a young child is too young to speak on their own behalf, parents and godparents commit themselves to bring the child up as a follower of Jesus, within the fellowship of the local church.
The service itself paints many vivid pictures of what is involved in following Jesus. It includes the sign of the cross, the badge of faith in the Christian journey, which reminds us of Christ’s death for us. Water is a sign of cleansing, and also a sign of new life, as we are born again by water and the Spirit. And as a sign of that new life, we give a lighted candle as a picture of the light of Christ conquering the darkness of evil. Everyone who is baptised is to walk in that light for the rest of their lives.
In this parish infant baptism is offered to Christian families who are regular worshippers in each of our churches. Such families are able, with integrity, to make the promises required to bring their children up as worshipping members of the Christian community. The congregation are also able to keep their promises, made in Baptism services, to support families in helping the children to grow up in the Christian faith. A service of thanksgiving is offered to every family in the parish who receives the gift of a child.
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 join one of our churches and worship with us on a regular basis.
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Adult baptism
Since the opening of our baptismal pool in 2008 we have been able to offer baptism by immersion in this parish. And we would encourage young people and adults who have made a commitment to follow Jesus as their Lord and Saviour to be baptised in this way if they have not already been baptised as an infant.
As for infant baptism, the service paints vivid pictures of what is involved in following Jesus. It includes the sign of the cross, the badge of faith in the Christian journey, which reminds us of Christ’s death for us. Water is a sign of cleansing, and also a sign of new life, as we are born again by water and the Spirit. The imagery of ‘drowning’ in the waters of baptism – which a service by immersion provides – gives a vivid picture of dying to sin and being raised to a new life, even as Jesus died and rose again at the resurrection. And as a sign of that new life, we give a lighted candle as a picture of the light of Christ conquering the darkness of evil.
Everyone who is baptised is to walk in that light for the rest of their lives.
If you are considering adult baptism please have a word with one of the clergy at a morning service, or come to vestry hour at 5.30pm on Sundays at Aston Parish Church. Preparation for this service will be provided by one of the clergy.
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Common questions
If you are reading this, you are most likely interested in arranging a Baptism either for yourself or a new family member. To help you understand what is involved, we have prepared answers to some of the common questions that we are frequently asked to get you started
Scroll down the page to read each of the questions and answers in turn, or click on the links below to be taken directly to a specific question.
- What is Baptism?
- Is Baptism the same as Christening?
- At what age are you baptised?
- What is involved in Baptism?
- Can I / my child be baptised at Aston Parish Church / St James Church / St Matthew’s Church?
- Do the parents / Godparents have to be baptised or confirmed?
- Do I / we have to regularly attend church?
- How do I / we arrange it?
- When would it happen?
- What does Baptism cost?
- Is there a rehearsal or practice?
- Can I / we choose songs or hymns?
- Where can I / we find more information?
- What does it mean to be a Godparent (Guide to Godparents)?
Q: What is Baptism?
A. 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 delcare 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.
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Q: Is Baptism the same as Christening?
A: Yes. Baptism is the word Jesus uses, and which we therefore prefer. He was baptised himself. “Christening” as a name came along a lot later and picks up the aspect of Baptism about God’s people becoming like Jesus.
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Q: At what age are you baptised?
A: People can be baptised at any age. Often children born into Christian families are baptised a few weeks after birth. For adults, their Baptism is often combined with Confirmation within the same service.
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Q: What is involved in baptism?
A: At the start of the Baptism Service, there are important promises that the Baptism party and the congregation make about choosing to follow Jesus and living life His way. The promises talk about turning away from sin and evil and towards Jesus as the one who will rule our lives from now on.
The service then moves onto a ceremonial cleansing. Most often, baptism of infants involves them being sprinkled with water. Older children and adults are normally immersed in water. The water is a sign of God’s washing us clean. Baptism is actually from the Greek word for “dipping”. Someone is baptised in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit which means they are “dipped” into the life and love of God, Father Son and Holy Spirit.
At the end of the Baptism service you will see the “Welcome”, where the baptised person is welcomed into the family of the Church. That is what the Church is, not a building or a place for a service. The Church family takes its responsibility for its members very seriously and so the congregation will want to be able to fulfil the promises that they make to those being baptised.
Because of the seriousness of the promises involved in Baptism, we want to make sure that you understand them and are ready to commit yourselves to keep them. To do this, we always offer a Baptism preparation session. This can either take place in your home, or alongside others at one of our regular preparation classes (these usually take place on a Sunday afternoon at the start of a month at Aston Parish Church Centre).
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Q: Who can be baptised at Aston Parish Church / St James Church / St Matthew’s Church?
A: Someone can be baptised in one of our three churches (Aston Parish Church, St James or St Matthew’s) if they:
- are a regular attender of one of our churches and are on our membership list (Electoral Roll) or
- live in our parish
If you are unsure as to whether you live within the parish, one of the clergy will be able to tell you, or you can check the parish boundaries shown on our map in the contact section.
You or your child can then be baptised at any of our three churches. You may want to choose the one nearest to where you live, or there may be other good reasons to choose one of the others. The church locations are shown on the map in the contact section.
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Q: Do the parents / Godparents have to be baptised or confirmed?
A: When baptising a child, both parents should be baptised and confirmed, as should the Godparents (for more details on confirmation follow this link to the confirmation section). 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.
If you are being baptised as an adult, you are able to make this commitment and the associated promises for yourself .
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.
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Q: Do I / we have to regularly attend church?
A: To be able to keep the promises that you will make in the Baptism service you will need to be part of a worshipping community of other people who are also following Jesus. This will involve meeting regularly with them for worship and to help each other along in our journey with God. The Church community also makes promises to the people being baptised as part of the Baptism service. These are to welcome the person being baptised and to help them grow in the Christian faith. They can only keep those promises if those who are being baptised make sure that they come to regularly worship with them.
Some people feel a bit apprehensive about bringing small children to church – what if they make a noise? Don’t worry, we are used to it! Also, each of our churches provides special activities for children of all ages on Sunday mornings, including monthly services designed for people of all ages to worship together.
Visit the youth church section for more information on how the churches cater for children. We also run various activities during the weak aimed at children, which can be found in the activities section.
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Q: How do I / we arrange it?
A: The first thing to do is to speak to one of the clergy after one of the services, at Vestry Hour (which is at Aston Parish Church at 5.30 pm on Sunday evenings), or by telephone.
The clergy will explain the process to you, and arrange for appropriate preparation for you and (if appropriate) your child.
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Q: When would it happen?
A: Baptisms take place during one of the main Sunday morning services (see the worship section for details of our services). Which Sunday depends on you and what is happening in the Church.
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Q: What does baptism cost?
A: Nothing. Baptism is a sign of God’s total love, which comes free.
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Q: Is there a rehearsal or practice?
A: Not normally, but there will be some preparation which will include explanation of what happens when during the service and what you will need to do.
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Q: Can I / we choose songs or hymns?
A: Baptisms take place as part of our regular Sunday service, but we would be glad to try and include a song or hymn in the service that is particularly meaningful to you. Be sure to discuss it with the clergy before the day of the service.
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Q: Where can I / we find more information?
A. More information you can visit the Church of England or Diocese of Birmingham websites.
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Guide for Godparents
Each infant or child who comes to be baptised needs to have at least three Godparents. Two of the godparents must be the same gender as the child, and there must be one of the opposite gender. The child’s own parents can count as Godparents. However, most often Godparents are family members or friends. It is important to choose people for Godparents who will take an interest in the child’s spiritual welfare and who will pray for the child and its parents.
It is a requirement that all Godparents are baptised. It is important that they are good Christian examples to their Godchild, and hence they are normally confirmed or full members of a Christian church. All the Christians gathered round the font together represent the Church of Christ, into whose fellowship the children are received when they are baptised. But the Godparents also represent the children, promising on their behalf to renounce what is evil, to believe what is true and to do what is right, according to Christ’s teaching and example.
Being a Godparent is like being a second father or mother to the child. With the father and mother, the Godparent will see to the child’s Christian upbringing and, if anything were to happen to the parents, should be prepared to assume full responsibility for this. So a Godparent should love their Godchild as if he or she were their own child. That means far more than giving the child presents.
Godparents must pray regularly for their Godchildren. When the children are handed back after the baptism, they are entrusted to the Godparents’ care as well as to that of their father and mother. And immediately afterwards everyone prays that they may lead the rest of their lives according to this holy beginning. So, even if they live far away, Godparents should often think of their Godchildren and pray that God’s grace may be with them and lead them through good and ill.
