Weddings
Getting married is one of the biggest decisions that you can make in life. Getting married in a church can make that big moment even more special as you ask for God’s blessing on your marriage. Legally, in order for you to be married at St Luke’s you need to have a qualifying connection. Once a qualifying connection has been established, we can work with you on a date for the wedding and a marriage preparation course.
Baptism and Thanksgiving
Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.
Psalm 127:3
The birth of a child is a wonderful gift of God, and a moment to be celebrated. At St. Luke’s there are two ways to mark the birth of a child in thankfulness to God.
Baptism
“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” Acts 2:38-39
In the Christian faith Baptism is the sign of belonging to God’s church. As the verses above indicate, this sign is for those who have repented, which means turning away from everything God calls sin, receiving forgiveness from Jesus and living a new life by the power of the Holy Spirit. As the verses above also indicate, the sign of baptism is also rightly for the children of those who are following Jesus, as a sign that those children belong to God’s church and will be raised to know and love Jesus.
In a baptism service, therefore, parents and godparents make a public profession of repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus and serious promises before God and his church that they will raise their children in the church to know and love Jesus.
Therefore, if you think baptism is the right way for you to mark the birth of your child, it is important that you are in a position to make the public profession and serious promises with sincerity. That means coming to church regularly, as well as attending a short course to prepare you to keep the promises made in baptism.
Thanksgiving
The nature of baptism means that it’s not the right option for everyone. If you read the description of baptism and you don’t feel able to make the profession of faith and keep those promises, then you can still mark the birth of your child with a service of thanksgiving. In this service you say thank you to God for the gift of your child, without making a profession of faith or making promises to raise them in the church to know and love Jesus. There is no requirement for regular church attendance or a preparation course ahead of a service of thanksgiving.
What Next?
Come along on a Sunday morning at 10:30am if you haven’t already. However you would like to mark the birth of your child it’s important that we have the chance to meet you. For a thanksgiving we can then discuss a date with you. For a baptism, following a period of 3 months’ regular attendance and completion of an “Explore” course we can then discuss arrangements for baptism preparation and a date for the baptism.
Funerals
It is a very difficult time when loved ones are lost, and we at St Luke’s are here for you. A church funeral gives an opportunity to thank God for the life of your loved one, and offer the hope of the Christian message to those attending.
Funeral directors take the lead on arrangements for funerals, so speak to them first, and then we can arrange for the funeral to be held in church.
