Baptism

Baptism is one of two Sacraments celebrated in the Church of Scotland (the other being the Lord’s Supper). Baptism take place during a service of worship on a Sunday. In Clincarthill Church, we baptise both infants and adults.

Infant Baptism

When we baptise a child, we do not automatically make them a follower of Jesus. Instead, we are doing the following things:

  1. Declaring God’s love for this child, and welcoming them into His family.
  2. Expressing our hope that this child will one day fulfil their baptism by making a commitment of faith.

When bringing a child for baptism, parents make promises on behalf of their child: that they will help to encourage and nurture their faith, as well as bring their child up in the life of the church. The church also makes promises to support a family as they do this.

We take our promises seriously at Clincarthill Church, and it is for this reason that we only baptise children of parents who are committed Christians, and who are members of a church family.

If you are not a Christian or a church member, we would still gladly offer prayers of thanksgiving and blessing for your child as part of our service of worship.

If you wish to find out more about bringing your child for a baptism or a blessing, please contact our minister.

Adult Baptism

The purpose of Adult Baptism is much the same as above: to declare God’s love for a person, and to welcome them into His family. The main difference is that, as an adult, you will make the baptismal promises yourself.

Please note: if you have been baptised as a child, you cannot be “re-baptised”. The Church of Scotland believes there is only one baptism, and it is wrong to baptise someone a second time. There are, however, other ways to mark a re-commitment to the Christian faith: contact our minister, and he’d be happy to discuss it with you.