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During the infant baptism ceremony:

• The baby, parents and the godparents are welcomed.
• There are readings from the Bible.
• The parents and godparents take vows, reject Satan and evil and profess their faith and the faith they want the baby to be brought up in.
• The Apostles’ Creed might be said as a statement of faith.
• Water is poured over the baby’s head as the minister says, “I baptise you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”.
• Godparents are sometimes given a lighted candle to represent the light of Jesus that has come into the baby’s life.
• The parents may dress their baby in a special white garment.

Catholics believe that baptism welcomes the child into the Church. It also removes from the baby original sin that was brought into the world when Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden.

The baptism ceremony also allows parents and godparents to make a promise before God to bring the baby up within the faith of Christianity.

Christian denominations that also practise infant baptism include Presbyterians, Anglicans and Methodists. Although each of the denominations in Christianity believe differently about the practise and effects of infant baptism.

Dedication service

Churches that do not practice infant baptism may have a dedication service instead.

Baptist and Pentecostal churches baptise people when they are adults and able to decide for themselves whether or not they wish to be baptised. They do, however, often have a short service of dedication within a regular Sunday service to mark the birth of a baby.

During the service of dedication, the parents present their child in church. The story of Jesus’ presentation in the temple is often read. This is when Mary and Joseph took him there 40 days after his birth, it is written in the Gospel of Luke.

The parents promise to bring the child up according to Christian values, in a Christian home and as part of the church community.