Baptisms, weddings and funerals

If you're interested in having your baby or child baptised at St Mary's, please contact us.

We provide opportunities during the year, for those who come to faith in Jesus Christ to undergo baptism by full immersion, sometimes called a ‘Believers Baptism’.

The Baptism Service (sometimes called 'Christening') assumes that one or both of the parents are practising Christians and also already members of a local church.

As evidence of this, and for the service to have any meaning for the church and family, we therefore expect:

• One or both parents to be attending St Mary's regularly for at least six months before we explore the possibility of baptising their child. This gives them an opportunity to decide whether to become members of our church family so that together we can help their child grow to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.
• If parents have little or no Christian background, we also expect them to participate in Christianity Explored, our introductory course exploring the Christian faith, which takes place each term. This provides an opportunity for parents to understand the meaning of the promises they will be expected to make on behalf of their child.

Baptisms usually take place within the normal Sunday morning services so that the Church family can share in the promises made with the parents and godparents to bring the child up within the Christian faith.

Anyone living in the parish not already attending St Mary’s is encouraged to come to the Sunday Services beforehand (9:15am, 11am, 4pm or 6:30pm) and take advantage of the ‘Christianity Explored’ course held each term.