There is a big difference between adult (or believers) baptism and the baptism of infants, but whether the person is a baby or a senior citizen, the first step is to speak to the Vicar. A meeting is then arranged; any questions are answered and the service explained. A date is then set and the family can make the necessary arrangements.
If it is an infant baptism, godparents who will pray for and encourage the child as it grows in the faith are carefully chosen. If it is an adult baptism, sponsors are selected who will support and help the candidate in the early years of their Christian life. Adult baptism is nearly always associated with Confirmation.
In both cases the whole Church also makes a commitment to help, support and encourage the newly baptized as they grow in faith.
ADULT BAPTISM
In the New Testament we hear of John the Baptist offering a baptism of repentance or ‘new beginning’, and all who recognized their need to start afresh with God were baptized by John in the River Jordan.
Jesus made it clear to his disciples that he wished them to continue this symbolic rite which they clearly did from the day of Pentecost onwards. They taught that people’s lives needed to be turned to God and that baptism would be the visible expression of the start of this new life. It was much more than a symbolic cleansing; it symbolized the death of the old life, the life of selfishness (being lowered under the water symbolized death), and the rising to a new life and following Jesus Christ (being raised up out of the water). This became the recognized expression of faith - the baptized were the Church.
Adult baptism today usually incorporates the remaining part of the initiation process that was used in the early Church which is known as Confirmation - a declaration before God and the Church of the intention of the newly baptized to be a faithful and loyal disciple of Jesus Christ, and the ‘laying on of hands’ by the bishop, praying for a filling or strengthening of the Holy Spirit in the newly professed Christian’s life. (For more information about Confirmation see the Church of England web site or ask us for more details).
It appears to have been the practice of the early Church to include the whole family when the
adults became Christians, and this probably included young children who were too young to understand.
The Church of England still baptizes infants on the understanding that their parents (and godparents) will bring them up within the family of the Church. This means, quite simply, that their parents promise, before God and his Church, to lead their child to a belief in Christ through the living witness of their lives within the Church.
However, for some, baptism has a raft of misconceptions attached to it and these need explaining:
It is NOT:-
a) a naming ceremony (the baby’s name is registered
separately)
b) an acceptance by God. (God already loves the child
far more than anyone could imagine)
c) an approval by the Church (How could anyone
disapprove of a young child?)
The baptism of infants is a ceremony of inclusion. Parents and godparents promise to demonstrate their faith to the child. On that basis the child is seen to be included within that Christian family as a child waiting for its inheritance.
When the child is old enough to understand, it is able to make a decision about its own life. The promises at Confirmation are a public declaration of the child’s desire to be adopted into the family of God and receive the power of the Holy Spirit to enable it to follow Jesus Christ as a part of his body, the Church.
