Baptism & Confirmation
In Baptism, parents thank God for His gift of life and make a decision to start the child on the journey of faith and ask for the Church's support. Confirmation marks the point in the Christian journey when you affirm the faith into which you were baptised.
Baptism
Baptism, or 'Christening' as it is sometimes called, is the way we make public our personal Christian commitment. Jesus was baptised in the river Jordan at the start of his ministry, and ever since, Christians have baptised new believers as the sign of their own commitment to personal Christian discipleship. The symbolism is powerful.
The person being baptised passes through the water of death; he or she dies to her old life lived apart from God, and is raised to a new life, to be lived in prayerful obedience to God. In response to this, and through the death and resurrection of Jesus, God forgives the person of all past wrong, and treats him or her as is he or she had never sinned.
After baptism, the person baptised is greeted by the members of the local Christian congregation, and welcomed into their fellowship. So an individual is always baptised into a local Christian congregation, but also into the world-wide fellowship of all Christians.
Whenever it happens, whether as a baby, child or adult, baptism is at the heart of an amazing journey of faith as a follower of Jesus Christ. You are never too old to take this step, and being baptized as an adult is a wonderful experience. If you were baptized at a christening when you were a child or in a different Christian tradition, there are always special ways to renew the promises that were made then in a fresh way as you discover more about what it means to live them out in your life. Confirmation is just such a way.
“I was baptised on August 21st 2015 and it was one of the most intense days of my life. I remember just about a week before my baptism I prayed to the Lord for Him to utilise me to be an inspiration to the church.”
Sam Clark
More Information
You can find out more about Baptism & Confirmation in the Church of England here:
Confirmation
At a service of Confirmation people renew the baptism promises in a public profession of their faith and receive the laying on of hands by the bishop, asking for God’s Holy Spirit to strengthen the candidate for life in the way of Jesus.
Services of Confirmation will follow a course of instruction in what it means to be a Christian, so candidates will normally be at least 12 years old. There is no upper age limit and the bishops are regularly confirming adults as people come to faith in Christ in later life.
Confirmation is the service at which people become full members of the Church of England, and the bishop will lay hands on the candidates and pray that the Holy Spirit will come upon those who are to be confirmed.
Confirmation used to mark the point at which a candidate might receive Holy Communion, but some congregations agree to a scheme to admit children to communion before Confirmation, as part of community-based mission initiatives.
