Thanksgiving & Baptism

New Life

Congratulations on the birth of your child!

Thank you for approaching us as you consider how to celebrate and thank God for this new addition to your family, and to ask his blessing on your child and home.

Thanksgiving Service

We nearly always recommend a ‘Service of Thanksgiving for the Gift of a Child.’

This service can happen as early in your child’s life as you like; within the first few weeks if you want, and can normally be arranged at quite short notice. 

This service allows you to call together family and friends, and to: 

•         Thank God for this new life
•         Join with us in asking God’s blessing on your child and family
•         Appoint and invite godparents
•         Receive the gift of a child’s Bible

 This service does not require any particular Christian commitment on the part of you or your family and we are able to offer it to anyone, regardless of where you stand on matters of faith.

 A Service of Thanksgiving would normally take place during one of our Sunday morning services. We would recommend our monthly All Age Service which takes place at Elsenham Village Hall at 10.15 am.

Baptisms

For many families a Service of Thanksgiving is all that they are looking for, but it is also possible to have your child baptised.

Baptism is for children who have at least one parent who would consider themselves to be a committed Christian. 

Unlike a Thanksgiving, a Baptism service is all about commitment. It celebrates God’s commitment to us, and it is an opportunity for you, the parents, along with godparents, to state publicly your personal commitment to Jesus Christ and to bringing up your child within the Christian faith. 

We, the church, also make a commitment to you: to welcome your child and to help and support you as you seek to bring your child up to know and love Jesus. 

Therefore, if you want to have your child baptised we would ask you to come on a Baptism Preparation Course. But before considering Baptism we would also ask that you become a regular church attender within the HEU Benefice. You certainly don’t have to come every Sunday, but we hope that you would come often enough to start to feel part of the HEU family and to contribute to our life together.

Q&A

Q: CAN MY CHILD BE MARRIED IN CHURCH IF S/HE IS NOT BAPTISED?

A: YES. In England everyone has the legal right to be married in their local church or the District Register Office. This right is irrespective of any religious view they hold or whether they’re baptised or not.

Q: CAN MY CHILD HAVE A CHRISTIAN BURIAL OR CREMATION IF S/HE IS NOT BAPTISED?

A: YES. Again, this is not affected by baptism at all.

Q: DOES MY CHILD NEED TO BE BAPTISED IN ORDER TO HAVE A PROPER NAME?

A: NO. Names are given by a child’s parents (normally in hospital, where it appears on the ‘tag’ round a baby’s leg), and then registered on a birth certificate. The church has no authority to ‘name’ a child, though of course the child’s given name is reinforced by its use in public at either a thanksgiving and/ or a baptism service.