We are delighted that you are looking at this page about Baptism (or Christening - it’s the same thing) and if you have given birth recently, congratulations too! 

Baptism is about being welcomed into God’s family and, at St John's, we will do all we can to support you.  It marks the beginning of a lifetime journey of faith.  Perhaps it's the approximately 10,000 babies and children who are baptised in the Church of England every month who make us think that it is just for the young, but we also welcome adults who want to be baptised. 

Since baptism is about welcoming your child into God’s family we think it is important that you have time to get to know us a little before you make the commitment which Baptism entails. So we invite you to come along to some services at St John’s and to get to know the place and the people a bit and so begin to feel at home here. Our Sunday morning service is at 9.45am and we have provision for children in their own group for part of the service and a (hopefully) relaxed atmosphere with no shushing of children allowed!

Come along and see how you get on and we can take it from there. After you’ve been coming for a while, Revd Helen Hancock will aim to visit you at home to talk through what baptism means and to answer any questions. After that, if you are still keen to go ahead, we should be able to fix a date for the baptism!  Inevitably this takes a few months, really dictated by how often you are able to make it to church in the early stages.   

Baptisms take place during our 9.45 service so we can ensure that your whole family is welcomed by our church family.

Living outside the Parish

If you don’t live in the Parish (but still live close enough to maintain a connection with the church), then it is slightly more complicated (although not impossible). If you live a long way from St John's and want a baptism here for family or other reasons then please do get in touch so we can chat this through. We believe that ideally baptism is about a welcome into the local church so would encourage you to explore that possibility as well, but do get in touch!