Baptisms

We are delighted that you are considering bringing your child for baptism at St Mary's or seeking it for yourself.

Many families choose to baptise their child at St Mary’s and so we do advise planning in advance. We have a thriving family community for your family to join including Sunday School, Praise & Play, Playgroups, seasonal family actitives and an annual baptism party.

Please read through the guidance below and baptism policy before completing the application form, this will ensure that your enquiry is administered efficiently.

 

  • The first thing that will be arranged is a Baptism Surgery appointment. These take place between 9:30am and 11am in the Parish Office on specified Saturday mornings with the one of our clergy. They only last 15 minutes. Please bring your diary with you to this meeting. At the session the priest will take your details, have a short discussion with you and offer you a date for the Baptism Preparation Session and the Baptism itself. The Preparation session lasts half an hour and will be in church with other parents, and any Godparents who are able to join you. Please bring the child who is going to be baptised and any older siblings to this session.

  • We would welcome you to begin attending church regularly and discuss your baptism with the Rector. You may also have another connection with the church which you wish to mention.

  • We would welcome you to start attending regularly and we recommend that you talk to the Rector in the first instance. We would also require a permission letter from your local vicar.

  • We offer baptisms twice a month, except in December. We have one Baptism service a month at The Service @ 11:15 and one a month at 12:30pm on a Sunday; this service does not have any hymns and usually lasts about 20 minutes. Click button below to see list.

  • No, we cannot guarantee a private baptism. However, we do not have more than three families, or four children being baptised at the same time, which ever is the fewer.

  • St Mary’s needs many volunteers to make the church run smoothly in a vast array of ways. From only 1 hour a month you can make a huge difference to your church. Speak to the clergy at your Baptism meeting.

  • No charge is made for baptism but you are welcome to make a donation to church funds.

  • Yes you will be able to fill this in online. The link will be sent to you once a baptism date is agreed. It will contain requests for information about Godparents as well as your own details.

  • Each child has at least 3 godparents, usually 2 of the same sex and 1 of the opposite sex. There can be more than 3 however, there are a maximum of 6 spaces in the register. Godparents need to be baptised in any Christian church. If someone is hoping to be a godparent but is not baptised they can be an honorary godparent and may not be entered into the register; 3 other godparents are still required and those are to be baptised.

  • If they are available, this should be possible. Please click here to check.

  • If due to unforseen circumstances a godparent is unable to attend the baptism, it is possible to do this by proxy. Please speak to the clergy.

  • If you would like your child’s baptism live streamed please book for a service at 11.15am on a Sunday. We do not make any charge for streaming a baptism service, but do please consider the value of this when you decide on the donation you would like to make to St Mary’s. You might find it helpful to know that we charge £150 for streaming weddings and funerals. We stream services on Zoom using the same link as we do for our main Sunday Services. You can copy the link from the front page of our website and send it to family and friends who are not able to make the service.
    If you do not want your child’s baptism to be streamed please book a 12.30pm baptism.
    We do not allow baptism services to be recorded and uploaded to the internet in the interests of the children being baptised. Please make sure your guests know this before they come to the service.
    Please note that we use domestic wifi so we cannot guarantee that the service will be streamed, but we have never had any problems with streaming. We are able to keep our prices down because we do not have a commercial contract. Please ask us for further details if you are concerned about it

  • Only blue badge holders may park in the churchyard. Families and friends must park in surrounding roads where parking is free on a Sunday. The field is not available for hire. Please ensure that your guests are aware of the parking policy.

  • If you are expecting more than 40 guests it is helpful to know so that we can make sure we have enough order of service. The church can seat 600, so as long as you are not expecting over 500 you should be fine!

What to do next…

If you are new to St Mary's, you will need to submit your details to our online Church Membership software called ChurchSuite to become a member of our church. You can do this here noting the below instructions.

  • Complete the details of your partner as well as your child to be baptised (and any others if you wish to include them). When you fill your details in there is an option to apply for Baptism in the form. By ticking this you will be sent details of how to apply.

  • IMPORTANT - You need to OPT IN to email communication on the form by TICKING the box 'Receive general emails' otherwise we will not be able to communicate with you regarding the baptism!

If you are already on ChurchSuite please make sure your child to be baptised is also included in ChurchSuite. You can add newborn children by going to your 'My ChurchSuite' and entering your email address via this link. Then send an email to baptisms@stmaryswimbledon.org to say that you want to organise a baptism and you will be sent the details via ChurchSuite.