How to attract, welcome and care for families considering a Christening
Help families with babies discover that your church is a place of welcome for them
THE ARRIVAL OF A CHILD in any family is a really significant, life-changing moment. Parents and wider members of the family will have big emotions and big questions at this time. Seeking a Christening for a child is often an outward sign of parents’ desire to give their child the best start in life.
Whether parents have just had their first child or there’s a new addition to a growing family, research shows that parents are anxious about the future, concerned about responsibility and want the best for their child. Help families to discover that the church is a place of welcome for them, and that a baptism or a thanksgiving could be a part of their new beginnings.
There are some simple steps you can take as a parish to ensure the church is approachable, easy to find and contact, and offers a warm welcome when that first contact is made.
Publicity
Finding out about a Christening might be one of the ways that brings a family into contact with the church, so making sure good publicity is available is important.
A poster to encourage families to get in touch may be helpful which can be placed around the parish(es). These are a couple of professionally-made posters available through CPO:
- A light touch invitational poster to encourage parents to ‘Just Ask’ about a Christening
- A customisable version of the above poster which can be overprinted with your contact details etc
- A more direct poster about exploring having a Christening. Add contact details before you order
Whether you live in a large town, a suburb or a rural village, there may be places where families with young children gather, for example:
- Parent and baby groups
- Libraries
- Doctors’ surgeries
- Nurseries
- Baby healthcare drop-in clinics
Ask enquirers to tell you how they heard about you. It will help you learn about the best publicity spots.
Talk about Christenings on your social media accounts, and where explicit permission is given by the family, share photos of baptism that have taken place.
This tried and tested publicity idea was sent in by the Revd Rob Marsh. At the village carnival the church had a tent. He purchased a large Tree Poster with stick-on leaves. On each leaf he wrote the first name of a child baptised in the last year and stuck them to the poster. It was a conversation starter as people asked about it when they passed by. The Tree Poster can be used all sorts of other ways in children’s ministries and services.
Finally make sure your church’s details are up to date on achurchnearyou.com, even if you have your own church website.
First visit or phone call
Whatever the occasion, meeting people for the first time is always crucial, because first impressions last. Warmth, welcome and acceptance have a great impact on families, some of whom may not be used to church and aren’t sure what to expect when they make an enquiry.
- If they make contact by phone and leave a message, returning the call as soon as possible will reassure them and make them feel cared for. Congratulate them, and if they use the word ‘christening’, take the chance to talk about ‘baptism’.
- Ask them how they heard about you and ask all about them and their child. Arrange to meet soon to get to know them a little better.
- Keep an eye out in services for new families with a child. Being noticed and spoken to by church people, including the vicar, makes newcomers feel welcome, so make sure that happens. If they mention a christening, show enthusiasm. Arrange to meet soon.
- Research clearly shows that if families form relationships with others in the church, they are much more likely to return again. Encourage friendly people in the congregation to introduce themselves to the parents and child, and get to know them a little. This will be the first step in helping parents to meet and appreciate the love and support of the church family.
- Encourage friendships to grow through personal invitations to church events, toddler groups, a walk in the park or just hanging out over a coffee.
First meeting
It’s important that the family continue to feel welcome at this meeting. They’ll appreciate discussion on:
- Whether the service will be part of a Sunday service or a stand-alone service. Tell them about the advantages of having the service in one of the usual Sunday services, but without judgement if they opt for stand-alone.
- Godparents – ask if they have decided on how many and who, offering advice on the requirements if necessary. Acknowledge they must be very special people to have been chosen to be godparents.
- Personal touches to the service. If music is to be included, try to accommodate a choice of hymn from the family, or if that is not possible, a reading or prayer request. Involving families in the service will help them feel that it is their service, in their church. This sense of ownership is a good foundation on which to encourage the family to come back to their church after the service.
- Collect all the names and contact details of the parents, child and godparents as this will ensure they can be contacted again. Ask the family at this stage about permission to keep in touch. It’s likely they will give that permission.
- Ask the parents why they would like their child christened/baptised and listen attentively to what they say. There may be a moment which will lead to deeper discussion.
- Invite them to prepare in the usual way offered at your church and include the godparents in this, if possible.
- Signpost the Christening pages on the Church of England website, which offer parents a wealth of information about preparing for baptism, details about the service and ideas for the journey afterwards. They can also use the site for prayer by lighting a virtual candle for their child’s baptism.
- If you would like to give the family some information to take home, you might like to invest in professionally-printed leaflets available through Church House Publishing.
Involving the usual congregation
The relationship between the usual congregation and a new family seeking baptism is not always an easy one. One way to help bridge that gap is to involve the congregation in praying for baptism families in the weeks leading up to the christening day. A prayer card for the congregation to encourage their involvement in supporting the family is available from CPO here.
More resources
There are more resources available to help with raising the profile of your church for Christenings and other Life Events.
Visit the CPO website and Church House Publishing to explore.
