Billingham Team Parish covers the churches of St Aidan's, St Luke's, and St Cuthbert's, and St Peter's Wolviston (St Mary Magdalene is in the process of closing at present). We welcome enquiries from anyone in the parish who would like to have a child baptised in any of the churches, and we look forward to meeting you and your child(ren).
Baptism is an amazing blessing. It is the beginning of a lifetime of following the way of Jesus, and through it we are connected with every other Christian - past, present or future. It is both joyous and serious, and we want it to be a life-changing experience for you and your family.
Come and get to know us
The best first step towards baptism, if you're not already a regular member of one of our congregations, would be to try joining us for one of our services. We have both traditional and more contemporary worship every Sunday, services such as Come and See (fortnightly on a Sunday evening) which is great for adults exploring faith, and Play and Praise and Second Sunday which are ideal for young families.
There will always be someone at one of those services that you can talk to about baptism, and you can find times and places on the page about Services and Events on this site.
To enquire further about having your child(ren) baptised in one of our churches click here.
N.B. Please complete the online form as carefully as possible because, if the baptism goes ahead, we will rely on the information later to complete the baptism registers and certificates accurately.
What happens next?
We will acknowledge your enquiry as quickly as possible and put you on a list to be invited to our next Baptism Enquiry meeting. These are held regularly through the year, and we try to offer different times so that there will be one to suit everybody.
We ask you to attend one of those so that we can explore the meaning of baptism in a group with other families, answer questions, and help you think through whether it is the right thing for you and your child(ren) at this time. Once you've taken part and decided to go ahead, we'll discuss a suitable date and place with you.
First things first
Please note that we can't offer baptisms at every church every week, and we have particular times that the services normally take place. This is to fit in with the service pattern and ensure that both clergy and volunteers are available.
That means there is usually a waiting period of several months, which gives you ample time to organise a party venue and send out invitations once a date at church has been decided. You may even want to use our hall and kitchen facilities so that everything can be in one place - talk to our administrator if you'd like to know more.