Questions about Christening

[Monadami]

Hi,

Firstly, Can someone please tell me what is the difference between a Christening, Baptism and a Dedication?

I would like to have my baby Christened / Baptised but am unsure of the difference. Also, I really don't want any Godparents as I honestly don't know anyone I consider to be worthy of that role.

Is it compulsory to have Godparents? Ideally I'd just like to take my LO and just have him Christened without any of the pomp and ceremony. It's purely about faith for me and I have no interest in having a party afterwards.

Thanks

A Christening and a Baptism are exactly the same thing. Both involve water and making promises.

A Thankgiving is thanking God for the same arrival of your child.

The parents can also be Godparents, but one the points of Baptism is that someone else also promises to pray for your child and support you in his upbringing. Are you part of a church?

What denomination are you from?

Godparents (in my opinion) are part of the 'pomp' of baptism, they aren't compulsory.

Have a word with your Minister - he or she will be able to discuss the theology of it with you and may be able to give you a leaflet or book explaining things.

Christenings and baptisms are the same, but some people decline to use the word Christening as having a child baptised does not make them a Christian, it just shows that the parents plan to bring the child up in a house of faith.

Some people don't agree with baptising infants, and instead agree with the idea of a 'believers baptism' when someone is old enough to come to faith themselves.

Most churches use the word "baptism" but lots of people call it a "christening" - it's the same thing. I think whether you have to have godparents may depend on what denomination you are, but in some churches you do have to have them.

Also, depending on your church, they are quite likely to want you go to some kind of "preparation" classes to talk about what it all means and why we do it - we went for 3 evenings and met a couple of other families who were having their children baptised in the same service.

essentially baptism and christening are the same thing.

In the catholic church baptism refers to the ceremony to welcome a baby into the church and that the parents show that they wish to bring their child up in the faith.

In C of E (and other denominations) they use christening for a childs ceremony and baptism for the ceremony when a person reaffirms their faith (usually when they are an adult) for example my sister and I were both christened as infants and then my sister was baptised as an adult also.

Most churches ask that you participate in preparation for christening/baptism - either group classes or meeting with the minister/vicar. Not all C of E denominations require godparents (i dont have any and my grandfather was the minister who christened me!)but the Catholic church usually require at least one practising catholic as a god parent

In C of E (and other denominations) they use christening for a childs ceremony and baptism for the ceremony when a person reaffirms their faith (usually when they are an adult) for example my sister and I were both christened as infants and then my sister was baptised as an adult also.

Not in any CofE church I've ever know

Christening and baptism are the same thing. Typically babies/infants are baptised, but older children & adults can be too - BUT you can only be baptised ONCE. From about 10year olds upwards/adults can opt to be Confirmed - which is when they reaffirm their faith & make their own personal commitment to it.

Betsy - i will check with my sister which church she had her baptism (she tried many various ones as a student) but she definately had a christening as a child and full submersion as an adult which was referred to as baptism' Might be that it was one of the free' churches which again call different ceremonies by similar names

In the CofE you can do "Renewal of Baptism Vows" which is done on a number of occasions, for example, at Confirmation, by the whole congregation at services including a Baptism, at the Easter Vigil etc., you can definitely only be baptised once as far as the CofE is concerned though. They even have words in the Baptism service (within the Common Worship stuff) to cover this, if there is doubt over whether someone has already been baptised:

"Conditional Baptism
If it is not certain whether a person has already been baptized with water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, then the usual service of baptism is used, but the form of words at the baptism shall be
N, if you have not already been baptized, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

Could it have been a Baptist Church? I know they don't "do" child baptisms (and I don't think they "count" ones done by other churches) and adults are normally baptised by full immersion?

i dont think it was a Baptist church but it would be something along the lines of New Life (but it wasnt New Life IYSWIM) She working tonight but i'll call her tomorrow

Thanks everyone. I don't currently go to church anymore, but used to go to a Baptist Church from childhood. I haven't been Baptised yet, but would like to at some point. My Partner is not a believer, so would this cause a problem with having our baby christened?

A Baptist here! A Baptist church won't baptise your baby whether or not you/your DP is a believer, because they only dedicate children - basically its a thanksgiving for the safe arrival of your child and a promise to bring them up in the church.

We went to an Episcopalian church when our children were born and didn't have them baptised as theologically we have problems with it (that sounds really poncey, I know!). We want them to be able to make that decision for themselves when they are older, we are bringing them up in the Christian faith but it needs to be their own decision in the end.

4 years ago we moved house and started attending a Baptist church. Dh and I were both baptised as infants but after a long struggle thinking it all through decided that we wanted to be baptised as believers so we went to the minister about it and they agreed. So we had our children dedicated (they were 3, 5 and 7) and ourselves baptised in the same service, which was lovely.

If you go for a dedication it is usually fairly low key in our church, there's no need for godparents although in our church often people have someone stand with them and pray for the child, and the whole church promises to support the whole family in bringing the child up.

I'm not sure what the rules are in other churches to be honest. A lot will depend on the individual church/minister. I think they would like you to go to classes or something so they are sure that you understand what you are committing to.

OP I think the saddest thing in your post is that you don't know anyone "worthy" to be a godparent. All it takes is someone who will love the child, look out for them and be another significant adult in their lives. Our children don't have Godparents but there are a lot of people we know who would be 'worthy' if we ever needed some!

Thanks Weegie. Both my partner and I had our son late in life. Both my parents are dead and I don't really have any family. My Partner has a mother, but she is quite elderly, so if anything happened to us, she would not be in the position to "look out for him".

OH has a brother, but he is very undesirable, very selfish and spends his time taking drugs and involving himself in other nefarious activities. Not really an ideal role model in my opinion.

I have a couple of friends who I could ask, but to be honest, the only people who genuinely care about my son are my partner and myself. You are very lucky you have people in your life who will care for your son, unfortunately not everyone is in that position.