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Baptism of infants and children

In baptism, you as parents are thanking God for his gift of life, deciding to start your child on the journey of faith and asking for the Church's support.

For your child, baptism: marks the start of a journey of faith, which involves turning away from the darkness of self-centredness, turning towards Christ and becoming a member of the local and worldwide Christian family.

Baptism is a 'sacrament': a visible sign of God's love. In baptism, we are thanking God for his gift of life and publicly acknowledging his love. We are acknowledging that we all need to turn away from the darkness of evil and to make a new start with God.

When you bring your child for baptism, you will be asked to declare publicly on behalf of your child that you believe in God and that you will bring your child up to follow Jesus.

You will be asked to answer on your child's behalf, that you have decided to turn away from everything which is evil or sinful and to turn instead towards Christ.

The declarations made by you and the child's godparents will be made in front of the church congregation. The Christian community will promise to support you and pray for you and your child.

You can find more information about the service on the Diocesan website, and you can contact your vicar or parish priest.

Confirmation and baptism of adults

Confirmation follows on from baptism when those baptised are at least teenagers or older. It is the opportunity for a baptised person to affirm the baptism vows which were said on their behalf at baptism. Those confirmed express their commitment to follow Jesus Christ and be church members. Through prayer and the laying on of hands by the confirming bishop, the Church also asks God to give them power through the Holy Spirit to enable them to live in this way.

Increasing numbers of people who have been baptised as infants are not being confirmed as teenagers but are being confirmed later as adults, often either as part of a journey to Christian faith or as part of a return to it.

Also, increasing numbers of people are not being baptised as infants, but are being baptised when they come to faith when they are older. In this case baptism, confirmation and receiving Holy Communion for the first time usually take place in the same service.

For further details, please see www.cofe.anglican.org/lifeevents/baptismconfirm/