Baptism Service

It is difficult to know just what words to put to the experience of the recent weekend when seven people were baptised and reaffirmed their baptism vows. Moving, challenging, brilliant, celebrative, real, authentic, joy filled... all those and more! Everything was going well until the main fuse box of the church blew in a bang and all the lights, all the sound, all the projections stopped in their tracks... And then there was light (thanks to Colin!) and darkness was banished... Only in Twerton. Brilliant. Makes you love God and want to follow Jesus. Click here to see some more pictures. Check out the stories and the sound of it all on the podcast.

Baptism at St Michael’s

It's great that you are enquiring about Baptism here at St Michael’s. We are thrilled that you are eager to find out more and are considering either to have your child baptised or to be baptised yourself. We hope that this page helps answer some of your questions and will help you as you think through whether this is the right step for you at this time. Of course reading all this is fine, but we would love to chat to you about it all, so if you want to find out more please do call Richard Wilson on 01225 421438 or email him at richard@stmichaelstwerton.co.uk

Although being baptised as an adult and being baptised as a child (often referred to as ‘Christening’) are different, the meaning for both is the same. However, because there are differences between them we have prepared two further sections – one called ‘Adult Baptism’ and the other called ‘Children’s Baptism’ – to make things as clear as we can.

What’s it all about?

The New Testament teaches that Baptism is the act by which a person, having openly declared a trust in Jesus Christ and a desire to follow him, is joined to the Christian Family, the Church. Baptism involves both a personal allegiance to Jesus and a commitment to the life, fellowship and worship of the church. In other words it means that a person has been so gripped by Jesus that they want to make him the centre of their life...

Baptism is a first step in response to the gift of new life in Jesus. Importantly, baptism is an identity marker – a badge – that not only identifies us as belonging to Jesus, but also helps us remain faithful to him all our lives. Through Baptism we are saying that we have died to our old lives and now live for Christ alone. Through baptism we are trusting Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins and for the power and freedom of the Spirit to live a new kind of life – the kind of life that Jesus had.

As a church here at St Michael’s our main aim is to bringing people to faith in Jesus – Children and Adults. We therefore encourage those who come to faith (e.g. through the Alpha course) to make their commitment to Jesus public in baptism. Baptism is normally administered at a public Sunday service when a large number of people are present, either in the traditional manner of sprinkling with water from the font, or by total immersion. Baptism is not a private thing but a public thing and having it in our main service gives the congregation as a whole the opportunity to welcome new members and to remember their own profession of faith made to God in their baptism.

From early times, the Church has also baptised children who are not yet old enough to profess faith for themselves, on the grounds of the obvious faith of the parents and on the understanding that they will teach them about Jesus and how to be a disciple like them. Just as children learn language simply by being surrounded by it and by trying it out, we baptize children of Christian parents in the expectation that they will naturally learn from them what ‘living in Christ’ means. We see that children of Christian parents belong to Jesus right from the start of their lives and because baptism is a badge that says "I belong to Jesus", we think that Children of Christian parents should also be baptised if their parents want them to be.

But this all depends on faith... and consequently as part of the baptism service parents and godparents are asked about their faith and called upon to make public their own love of God and their discipleship of Jesus. In line with Anglican tradition, parents and godparents who choose baptism for their children are required to have been baptised and ideally also confirmed or to be fully communicating members of the Church. It is expected that parents will be fully involved in the life of the church community, worshiping with the church on Sundays and growing the their faith.

Thanksgiving

You may also have heard about a service called a 'Thanksgiving'. 'Thanksgiving for the Birth of a Child' is offered to everyone who would like it, whether you attend church or not and whether or not you have given your life to Jesus. This is a wonderful short service which (as it says on the tin) gives thanks to God for the life of your child and asks for God’s protection and God’s help in bringing the child up. At a thanksgiving service the mister will lay hands on your child and pray for you and your child. They will give you a candle as a sign of Jesus' light in your lives and children can have godparents to support them.

This is an increasingly popular service as many parents today are not sure whether they are comfortable saying that they are completely committed to Jesus and to belonging to the church, but are sure that they want to mark the birth of their child with a service in a church and to ask God to bless them. Also many parents want to leave the decision about following Jesus to their children - letting them decide when they are older.

What to do?

Have a read of the information below and have a think about it all. If you want to take it further the best person to call is the Rector, Richard Wilson. Preparing for baptism usually takes several months because baptism is so important to the us as a church... but why not give Richard a call. He'd be delighted to come and talk more with you about it all.

Children’s Baptism

In baptism, as parents you 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.

Christians sometimes talk about Baptism as a 'sacrament': a visible sign of God's love. It is an ‘identity marker’ showing who we are, who we belong to and how we live. It is a response to God’s love and a part of following Jesus. 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.

Making decisions and promises

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 to pray for you and your child.

The Declarations

During the service, you will be asked to make the following declarations:

Do you reject the devil and all rebellion against God?
I reject them.
Do you renounce the deceit and corruption of evil?
I renounce them.
Do you repent of the sins that separate us from God and neighbour?
I repent of them.
Do you turn to Christ as Saviour?
I turn to Christ.
Do you submit to Christ as Lord?
I submit to Christ.
Do you come to Christ, the way, the truth and the life?
I come to Christ.

Shouldn't our children make their own decisions?

Some people worry that they are imposing views on their children and this is a good thing. However, in baptism we are not prescribing to our children how they must live , or brain washing them... we are saying that it is our desire, because we believe it is the best thing in life, to belong to Jesus... And just like in the rest of their lives, from the moment they are born, we make choices on their behalf. We don't wait until they are old enough to ask for milk before you feed them and in the same way it is right to give them spiritual nourishment and teach them about the love of God from an early age.

When they are old enough they may choose to be confirmed and to make an adult affirmation of faith. Baptism is no guarantee that our Children will grow up and desire to follow Jesus throughout their lives… just as the baptism of adults is no guarantee of that either. However, those brought up in a Christian home, surrounded by prayer and by parents who love Jesus, many naturally find themselves loving Jesus too. They have belonged to God and learned to follow him from as far back as they can remember.

Baptism is the marker that they have always belonged to Jesus and that they have this new life in them. Of course, as they grow and mature they will make decisions about life and how to live and they will choose either to continue in the faith or not. This is always God’s offer to us – either to accept his rule over our lives or to reject it. Our reason for baptising Children is not that it ‘makes’ them Christians – but that it marks them out as Christians – something we pray that they will remain faithful to, and live up to, until the end of their lives.

What happens in the Baptism service?

Your child's baptism will normally take place during the main Sunday service. This makes sense because at baptism your child is joining the family of the Church and be welcomed into membership. In turn, the Church will promise to support and pray for you and your child.

The Minister will make sure you know where to sit and when you need to move. Some parts of the service will be for the whole congregation to join in, some will be for you and the godparents.

For the baptism itself, parents and godparents will be asked by the priest to gather at the back of the church around the font. The priest will ask the parents and godparents to make declarations on behalf of the child

Important symbols

A number of important symbols will be used during the service itself:

The sign of the cross
The priest will make the sign of the cross on your child's forehead. This is like an invisible badge to show that Christians are united with Christ and must not be ashamed to stand up for their faith in him. The priest says: 'Christ claims you for his own. Receive the sign of his cross. Do not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified.'

Water
The priest will pour water on your child's head. Water is a sign of washing and cleansing. In baptism it is a sign of being washed free from sin and beginning a new life with God. Whilst water is a sign of life, it is also a symbol of death. When we are baptized our old life is buried in the waters (like drowning) and we are raised to new life with Christ (just as the people of Israel came through the water out of Egypt and Jesus came out of the tomb).

Anointing
John the Baptist baptised in water, but he pointed the way to another – Jesus – who would ‘baptise with the Holy Spirit.’ Christians are baptised in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is God’s power for living and the guarantee of our new life in Christ. After the baptism the priest will pray this prayer over the child: 'May God, who has received you by baptism into his Church, pour upon you the riches of his grace, that within the company of Christ's pilgrim people you may daily be renewed by his anointing Spirit, and come to the inheritance of the saints in glory.'

The Welcome
The church congregation will say some formal words of welcome to acknowledge that your child has joined the Church and to show how pleased they are to have you among them.

When did baptism start?
Jesus was baptized in the river Jordan. This was a turning point in his life (you can read the story in the Bible: at the beginning of Mark's Gospel in the New Testament). Jesus told his followers to baptize others as a sign that they had turned away from their old life, and begun a new life as Christ's disciples, members of his 'Body', having been assured of God's forgiveness.

Baptisms often took place in a river: new Christians were plunged (‘baptismo’ in Greek means ‘to plunge’) under the water, marking their death to an old way of life, and lifted up again as a sign of new birth. Some churches still follow the practice of full immersion in water today.

Frequently asked questions

Q What's the difference between a baptism and a christening?
A None, they are just different words for the same thing.

Q Can we have a private service of baptism?
A Baptisms usually take place in the church's main service, because they are a public declaration that your child has become part of the church family. It is important that the church congregation is there to support you and welcome your child.

Q What is the right age for baptism?
A Baptism can happen at any age. What matters is that those concerned believe it is right to ask for baptism. Teenagers and adults may also be baptized – see the ‘Adult Baptism’ part about this. You can only be baptized once, but there are ways of renewing your commitment publicly as an adult

Q I'm not a regular churchgoer. Can I still have my child baptized?
A Yes, but in honesty we don’t think that this really makes much sense. Baptism implies that parents take their faith and involvement in the church seriously and that following Jesus is the most important thing in their life. We never refuse to baptize a child, but if parents have not been active in the church, they may want to delay the Baptism until they have their questions resolved. God's love is available to all and we don’t want to block anyone from participating in the life that Jesus has for us all. But baptism isn’t about protecting your child in case they tragically died, or to make them a Christian, or to secure their place in heaven. Baptism is an identity marker marking us out as disciples of Jesus. Disciples of Jesus belong to the church and worship with other Christians not because they have to but because they want to. Baptising a child but not bringing them up as a disciple doesn’t make sense. We therefore invite every parent who would like to have their child baptised to spend some time thinking through their own faith through a pre-baptism course. We certainly don’t want to put anyone off but we do want to enable people to mean what they are going to be saying in the baptism service. Some people realise, having talked it through that they would prefer to have a ‘Thanksgiving service’ first and then consider baptism when they have had time to think on things further.

Q What does it cost?
A Nothing.

Q What is a godparent?
A Godparents make the same promises on behalf of the child being baptized as parents. Godparents promise to pray and support the child and to help the parents to bring up the child in the Christian faith. It is an important and responsible role.

Q How many godparents should I have?
A As many as you would like. Most people have between two and three… some more. A child can not have too many supporting adults praying for them and encouraging them in their faith.

Q Who should I choose to be a godparent?
A Anyone who knows and loves Jesus – people who will not only be good role models for your child but also be faithful in prayer for them. Godparents can be family members or friends. They should be baptized themselves.

Q Can we take photos or a video
A Yes, as long as it is done very sensitively. The baptism is a service of worship and the insensitive use of cameras undermines its significance.

What next?

• Talk to Richard or leave a message on his answerphone (01225 421438), and he will contact you.
• Talk things through with your family and pray about what it all means to you
• Find out more about it all – Come to an Alpha course.
• Talk to others at church about it all
• Join in with the life of the church family on Sundays and throughout the week.

We hope your baby's baptism will be a wonderful and memorable occasion and that it will be a very significant day, not just for your child but also for you as parents.

Adult Baptism

For adults who have not been baptised before, St Michael’s offers Baptism by sprinkling at the font or full immersion in a pool.

For adults who have been baptised as a child, the church offers a service of Renewal of Baptism Vows with water, either by sprinkling at the font or by full immersion in a pool. It is important to note that this is not a ‘re-baptism’ but a reaffirmation of the vows that were made for you as a child. Some who have been ‘christened’ have discovered that they have only recently ‘come to faith’ and want to mark this adult conversion by reaffirming their vows in this way.

What is the meaning of it all?

The Greek word baptezein means ‘plunging’, ‘immersing’ or ‘drowning’ and baptism would have been a familiar symbol in first century Palestine. Religious leaders adopted their disciples through baptism and we know of John the Baptist who was baptising people as a sign of repentance. Baptism was both a radical call to ‘repent’ (to turn around and rethink your way of life) and also a re-enactment of the great Jewish liberation of the people of Israel through the Red Sea. In this way John was asking his followers to join his renewal movement based. Jesus was also baptised by John, when the Spirit descended upon him like a dove and after which he began his ministry. Matthew’s Gospel ends with the Great Commission to go into all the world, to make disciples, teaching people everything that Jesus had taught and to baptise in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. We baptise in obedience to Jesus’ command.

In the New Testament baptism is seen as being primarily for adults who had accepted the Christian faith (Acts 2:37-41, Acts 8:26-33) but there were exceptions when a whole household were baptised (and we assume they included children) as in the case of Lydia (Acts 16:11-15) and the gaoler at Philippi (Acts 16:25-33). Baptism was by immersion and we believe that the New Testament principle still applies - that is, that baptism is for adults but in the case of a Christian household children may also be baptised (with sponsors or godparents) and that immersion is the norm, except for young children.

Death and Life

Baptism signifies a dying to an old world and being born again (see John 3:5-7, Acts 2:37-41). It signifies a dying with Christ in his death and rising with him in his resurrection (Romans 6:3-11).
Baptism is also seen as entry into the community of believers but as St Paul makes clear, it is not a magical ritual but a sign of turning away from one lifestyle to adopt the way of the gospel. The Greek word for repentance is metanoia, a turning round.

Baptism is an identity marker which not only confirms what God has been doing in a person’s life but also helps to enable them to live up to their new found identity in Christ.

Baptism and the Spirit

John baptised with water but Jesus baptises with the Holy Spirit. Just as with water baptism the image is the same – of being immersed or plunged into the Spirit. Like a sponge that is immersed in water and becomes full, so when Jesus baptises people in the Spirit they are filled with the Spirit. Being filled with the Spirit is not a once off event for we are encouraged to keep on being filled with the Spirit. Receiving the Spirit and being baptised in water go hand in hand. It is the Spirit that guarantees our new life in Christ and it is the Spirit that gives us the power to live this ‘risen life’

Early History

In Apostolic times, baptism took place immediately after conversion but later when Christians were under persecution they took baptism so seriously that candidates had to have a sponsor from the church who would guarantee the new convert’s change in lifestyle and perseverance in the faith. By the third century there was a ‘catechumenate’ and the ‘Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus’ mentions three years preparation! In the first year each candidate would be taught about Communion. In year two they were given instruction about the spiritual life of a Christian and in year three they were taught the doctrines of the church. Finally, a few weeks before baptism, the candidates were presented to the bishop and routine ‘exorcisms’ took place (not implying that they were possessed but to free them of any evil influences). From Maundy Thursday they fasted and were baptised at the Easter Vigil. The Bishop (as the local and Ordinary minister) performed the baptism, which took place as dawn broke on Easter Day, the congregation having been praying and reading the scriptures. The candidates were taken naked (!) into the pool and asked their belief and trust in Father, Son and Holy Spirit (with each affirmation they were dipped. They were then clothed in a white robe, which they wore for a week. Then the bishop laid hands on them (confirmation).

Clearly the early church took baptism very seriously and we want to recover some of this in our own day whilst not copying every one of their practices!

Preparing for Baptism

To this end we want to help adults in their preparation for their baptism or re-affirmation of baptism vows. We encourage people to take some time out to study, read and pray as well as to attend a number of special ‘baptism evenings’. To help each other we also arrange a time of worship, teaching and silent confession on the day of the baptism. Some people choose to do an Alpha course before they get baptised. Others might do one afterwards. The important thing is to know what we are saying and to want to give our lives to Christ and follow him.

Baptism remains the ‘sacrament of the initiation’ incorporating us into the life of Christ and the life of the Church. It can only happen once. Communion, the other ‘sacrament’, is repeated. Both work in a similar way – identifying the believer with Jesus and equipping them for their new life in Christ.

The Liturgy

As an Anglican church we use the Anglican liturgy for our services part of which means that you will have to answer the following questions:

Do you reject the devil and all rebellion against God?
I reject them.
Do you renounce the deceit and corruption of evil?
I renounce them.
Do you repent of the sins that separate us from God and neighbour?
I repent of them.
Do you turn to Christ as Saviour?
I turn to Christ.
Do you submit to Christ as Lord?
I submit to Christ.
Do you come to Christ, the way, the truth and the life?
I come to Christ.

What to do next?

If you would like to be baptised as an adult or to re-affirm your baptism vows please talk with any member of staff or contact the office. We hold regular baptism services in the Evening for adults and would love to welcome you as you explore the whole issue of faith with us in more detail.