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Would you like to be baptised as an adult? Or perhaps you’re enquiring about a service for your child? At St James, we believe you and your family matter to God. So we want to help you as much as we can.

Water baptism is only offered to people who profess faith in Christ and are attending church regularly, and to the children of such believers (read more below). But perhaps you’re interested in a special service for your child?

The arrival of a new child is an important event in your life. For every parent, it is the start of a joyful responsibility. You find yourself dreaming about your child’s future. You want to do the best for them. Perhaps this is why you’re inquiring about a special service for your child.

This is why we offer A Service of Thanksgiving for the birth of your child.

Please read on about this service (see below). We want to encourage you in your commitment to your child.

What about baptism?

Water baptism is only offered to people who profess faith in Christ and are attending church regularly, and to the children of such believers. Regular church attendance is one of the normal expressions of the true Christian life.

Therefore we do not offer baptism to adults, nor their children, who are not attending church regularly. (Likewise for subsequent children, even if an earlier child was baptised, but the family hasn’t attended regularly since.)

We like to use this analogy:

Wanting baptism for your child without going to church, is a bit like asking a sporting club to give you the jersey, yet saying you won’t bring your kids to the games or training nor serve as a volunteer yourself.

The jersey won’t do your kid any good if he hasn’t learned how to be part of a team. And it would be wrong to wear the jersey yourself, if you aren’t actually part of club life and service in any meaningful way.

We can discuss this with you at more length if you desire.

Certainly we want to help people decide if they’re serious about following Christ as Lord and Saviour. Participating in church life, where we learn from the Bible, is a great way of gaining such clarity, and we welcome people to come to our services on Sundays. Please get in contact with us if you'd like to plan a visit!

Thanksgiving Service

In the Service of Thanksgiving,

  • We ask you formally to name your child;
  • We give thanks to God and pray for his blessing on your child;
  • We pray for you as parents in the task of bringing children up.
  • Your child’s sponsors (‘godparents’) act as witnesses to this event and promise to support you in this endeavour.

We are committing you and your child to God’s love and care. He will happily hear our prayers. This is always an important family time of thanksgiving, and we treat it as such.

Please note that there is no water in this service. And, of course, children will need to make their own personal response of faith towards God as they grow into maturity.

Thanksgiving Services typically last 40 minutes. No payment or fee is expected, as the service is our gift to you.

Available dates can be discussed. Please be aware that some lead-time is often required before we can find a mutually suitable date. If you wish to proceed, we encourage you to attend one of our Sunday services soon and ask someone to introduce yourself to the minister. We’ll be delighted to meet you and can take things from there. Our 10am has a children's program.

Of course, you can also ring our office with further queries (02 4633 8594).