Christenings

Christenings are a special, joyful and exciting part of every family's life. It's a time in which we get to celebrate the arrival of a new life, join with family and friends, and maybe even have a party! They are also deeply spiritual moments, in which a child is named before God, and made a member of God's Church in baptism (the sprinkling of water). It begins a life-long journey of faith, in which we come to know God and his love for us in Jesus more fully day by by. In a christening, we will pray for your child, for you, and your godparents, that you may all know God's presence in your life. 

If you would like to book a baptism, feel free to phone our church office at 01543 416595, between 10.00am-12.00pm on a Monday and Friday  Thursday 5pm-6pm. Otherwise, feel free to email us at the link below:

What happens next?

  • After calling the office, we'll arrange for you to come to the office to book a date for your child's baptism. All we'll need for that is your details, and the names of your godparents. You might want to book early if there's a date you particularly want! Our Baptisms usually take place on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month at 12 noon.
  • When booking a date, we will also book in your baptism preparation evening, which usually takes place on a Monday evening. This lasts an hour, and involves introducing you to baptism itself, as well as being a rehearsal.
  • When the big day comes, make sure you've asked the minister well in advance about things such as hymns, or people doing any readings. 
  • Usually there is only one family per baptism. This means that we are able to put on a better service for you and your child, which is able to be more intimate and special. 
  • We recommend that on the big day, you don't invite more than fifty guests to the service. Unlike weddings, baptisms are at their best when there are less​ people there.  The larger the number of guests that each family brings makes the service itself much noisier and distracts from your child. 

Godparents

There are a few requirements in regards to godparents:
  • They need to have been baptised/christened themselves
  • There should be at least three, of which two should be the same sex as the child, and one the opposite sex
  • They should ideally be over the age of 16

FAQs

For some of our other frequently asked questions, click on the link below:

Adult baptisms

Increasingly people haven't been christened when they were a child, but would like to make that faith commitment when they're older. This is more common than people often realise. St Chad's does lots of adult christenings/baptisms over the course of the year. If you would like to enquire about an adult baptism, you can contact the Office on 01543 416595 and we can get one of our clergy to contact you to discuss further.

other information

The Church of England has put together a very helpful website in regards to baptisms - including the opportunity to light a candle for a child you know who's been baptised! Click on the link below to find out more:
GDPR 2018
As of May 2018 new Data Privacy Laws (GDPR) came in operation which affects how we can handle private data. All data within our Church is handled and stored in accordance with GDPR. With Church bookings including christenings it is necessary we hold some information of yourselves to fulfil such duties. We have a Privacy notice which details how we handle such data on our website found at the link below.