Church in the UK
What is the difference between a christening and a baptism?
There is no difference. A christening is a baptism. “Christening” is the traditional English word, and people tend to use it when a baby is being baptised.
Two words, one thing
“Baptism” is the word the Bible uses, and it is the name of the service in every church’s official books. “Christening” grew up alongside it in English and carries the idea of being made Christ’s and of being given a Christian name. If you ask a vicar for a christening, you will be offered a baptism.
What happens at a christening
- The parents and godparents make promises on the child’s behalf: to turn away from evil, to turn to Christ and to bring the child up in the faith.
- The minister makes the sign of the cross on the child’s forehead.
- Water is poured on the child’s head with the words “I baptise you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
- The child is welcomed into the church, and the family is often given a lighted candle.
In the Church of England a christening usually takes place during the main Sunday service, though some churches hold a separate one.
Godparents
Godparents promise to pray for the child and help them grow in faith. The Church of England normally asks for at least three, two of the same sex as the child and one of the opposite sex, and requires godparents to have been baptised themselves. Parents may act as godparents to their own child as long as there is at least one other.
Do we have to be churchgoers?
The Church of England will baptise a child from its parish whether or not the parents are married or attend regularly, and it makes no charge. The vicar will want to meet you first to talk through the promises, because they are serious ones. You will be saying before God that you intend to bring your child up as a Christian.
Why some churches baptise babies
Churches that baptise infants point out that whole households were baptised in the New Testament, that God’s promises were always made to believers and their children, and that baptism shows how God’s love comes to us before we can do anything to deserve it.
For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.
But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation, and said to them, “Allow the little children to come to me! Don’t forbid them, for God’s Kingdom belongs to such as these.”
Why some churches don’t
Baptist, Pentecostal and many independent churches hold that baptism should follow a person’s own decision to trust Jesus, as it generally does in the New Testament. Instead of baptising babies they hold a service of dedication or thanksgiving. The Church of England also offers a service of Thanksgiving for the Gift of a Child for parents who would prefer that.
Does a christening make a child a Christian?
A christening welcomes the child into the church and is a beginning. Every tradition agrees that the child will need to come to trust Jesus for themselves as they grow up. In churches that baptise infants, confirmation is the moment when they say so publicly.