Having your child baptised in Louth

Thank you for enquiring about having your child baptised (also known as Christened) in one of Louth’s parish churches. This leaflet is intended to give you a little information so that you can fill out the Application Form and help us to make your child’s baptism a meaningful event in their life.

When you ‘phoned up to enquire, we were probably able to offer an idea of which dates might be possible for a Baptism to take place. However, as we have many requests please do not confirm a date, time and place to anyone until the Application Form has been returned, and we have confirmed the arrangements with you.

What is Baptism?

Baptism is the mark of becoming a member of the church. It is often also the first public ceremony in a young child’s life and marks their membership not only of the Christian faith, but of the local community.

In the service we remind ourselves of what Christians believe and then welcome a new member by baptising them (with water) and christening them (with oil). These are two symbols of new life that we understand comes from following Christ in our daily lives. At the end of the service the newly baptised person is given a lighted candle as a sign that they go out of the church building and into the world as a sign of God’s love for creation.

After the Baptism we would love to keep in touch with you – please let us know is you would like us to use any contact details other than on the Application Form.

Godparents

A child being baptised must have at least two godparents (though normally people choose to have three people as godparents). The role of the godparent is to take an ongoing interest in the growth and development of the child – in particular encouraging them morally and spiritually. For this reason it is important that they have themselves been baptised (and preferably also confirmed).

To make a booking

please contact Revd Karen Gooding; 07715 442207; [email protected] to discuss a date and time for your child’s baptism. Once you have had this discussion, Karen will pass your details to the Louthesk Deanery Administrator, for her to send over the relevant application form and information leaflet.