Let’s start by being negative – what Baptism is not…

1. To give the child a name: –

Your child was named when his or her birth was registered, nothing else is required by law or the church. (However the service of Thanksgiving and Naming is an option that was introduced in 2000).

2. To make our Baby a Christian: –

To be a Christian – a follower of Christ is a personal decision which we all have to make for ourselves. Parents cannot make that decision even for their newborn baby. Anyone who turns to Christ at whatever age can be baptised if they were not baptised as a child.

3. Babies who aren’t baptised won’t go to heaven: –

A classic superstition that has been around for centuries and is totally false. Baptism is not a magic swipe card that opens the pearly gates! God loves all his children (and that includes us grown up children) whether we have been baptised or not.

4. Mother-in-law wants them done: –

The parents of the children have to bring them up. It is they and the Godparents, who make the solemn promises at the time of baptism, not Mother-in-law.

5. To thank God for their birth (and have a party), to give them a good start in life, to ask for God’s blessing on them: –

No! No! No! – although a service of Thanksgiving and Naming can be arranged and of course you can have a party and invite your relations, friends, neighbours – you don’t need a baptism for that.

6. To Promise to bring them up as Christians…

Now you’re getting the right idea – We’re being positive from now on, read on and we will try to explain.

Next – Baptism or Thanksgiving