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Presentation of an Infant
Jesus said
"let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them"
As a church community we take these words of Jesus seriously. We want to value, accept, protect and include children as part of our community.
They too are on a journey to find and follow Jesus and we want to teach, train and encourage them so that they may choose for themselves this way of living. Therefore we encourage parents of our church community to bring there children to a service of dedication. This is where publicly firstly parents give thanks for this most precious gift, then secondly where parents, (godparents), the church family make promises to raise the child and teach the Christian truths to the child within the church community. And finally where, as Jesus did, we bless the children as we pray for them.
We are happy, as Jesus did, to dedicate any children whose parents bring them for this purpose but would want to ensure that the child's guardians are aware of what they are doing when bringing a child. Therefore a church leader will visit a family before arranging a date for presenting an Infant.
Believer's Baptism
We believe that the bible teaches that someone becomes a Christian when they hear that Jesus died for them and rose again to make them part of God's family and then they Believe this, they then Repent which means to make a decision to follow Jesus and his ways and then as proclaiming this is what they are doing they are baptized. They are then on the hristian way, with God's Holy Spirit to help them and a church family to belong to. This can be seen in Acts 2: 36-47
Baptism is the act of immersing someone in water and then raising them out of water to demonstrate this new life decision they have made. We baptize anyone who has heard the good news of Jesus, who believes it and who has made a decision to follow this Jesus for the rest of their lives.
Being a whole life decision and orientation, we believe it unwise to baptise young children as this is not something we can choose for someone else. We seek to teach children to become Christians by believing and choosing to follow Christ from a young age but encourage them to proclaim this at an age of growing independence (usually during the teenage years).
Also, as it is a whole life decision and orientation, we ask those seeking baptism to attend a few classes to ensure they truly understand what it means to follow Jesus. If you are interested in attending a baptismal class please speak to one of the church leaders.
Weddings
Marriage is a God idea so it is a very good idea. Marriage is God's invention and his intention for how the love between a man and woman should be expressed. The bible says that God has made us in his image male and female. We are separate and different yet able in love to meet know and delight in one another.
As a church we offer a Christian wedding which celebrates a Christian marriage. A Christian marriage is one which reflects in our relationship the love that Christ has for us a love that forgives that sets us free and that draws us to be the people we were created to be. To enter into a Christian marriage we admit our need of Jesus to be present with us as we embark on our life together, seeking to reflect a purity and permanence of love that can only come from God. Therefore we make promises about the permanency of marriage and the exclusiveness of marriage. We also call on Christ and the church community to help us keep our promises.
Marriage being God's idea we are willing to marry anyone who is prepared to seek the help of Christ and to do so in the church community. Therefore we advise any couple seeking to be married to attend the church on a number of occasions to see if they feel comfortable with our community of friendship, fun and faith. Then do talk to a church leader about your intentions and they will be delighted to arrange some marriage preparation classes to help you as you prepare to embark on a Christian marriage together. We find that there are courses, or instructions for most things, except perhaps the two most important - marriage and parenting. We believe the Christian faith can provide a good foundation for both these life changing
events.
Funerals
Jesus said
"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die."
Do you believe this?
Our funeral services are a proclamation that for those who believe in Jesus there is hope and a future. It is also a service where we seek comfort from God, who says "The eternal God is your refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms.". We come to seek refuge, help and support in our time of grief. A funeral service is a service we share in together as a community of faith. We proclaim our faith, we celebrate God’s gift of life as we give thanks for our loved ones and we seek in our grief the elp and comfort of our God and one another. Therefore funeral services are an important part of our church community and faith. We have a service of thanksgiving at the church proceeded or followed by the funeral service of committal at the local cemetary.
We believe that all those who lose a loved one, and not just our community of faith, are in need of God to provide His everlasting arms as a refuge and so our minister, Pastor Simon is always available to offer such support and care and would able to conduct the funeral service of committal for your loved one. If he can help in this way please contact him at the church office. |
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