The Church of England baptises both
Adults and Children, we believe that God's love
enfolds us all regardless
of age, ability or maturity and that children are part of todays
Church,
not just the Church of tomorrow.
Baptism is usually (though not
always) by affusion (sprinkling of water) and in the
name of the Holy Trinity.
It marks a belonging to the worldwide family of Christs people
and the communion
of saints on earth and in heaven. It is a beginning, a first step of faith
within a human family and it is a gift of God's grace.
Baptism is celebrated at Forest Church
within our main Sunday service at 10am or by
arrangement on Sunday afternoon
at 2pm.
In emergency Baptism is administered at home or in hospital on request.
If you are resident in our Church Parish
you are welcome to call by telephone and express
an interest in Baptism
for yourself or your child. If you live outside our Church Parish
you
will need to speak with your own (Church of England or Anglican) Parish
Priest first to ask
his or her agreement and then contact us direct by email
or on 01594 542232.
If you live locally, the Vicar will visit you at home to arrange the date of the Baptism and Preparation for the day.
Sometimes a family may not be practising
Christians, or may not be able to agree on
Baptism for their child.
In such circumstances they may still want to celebrate the gift of
a new child in Church or at home. A service of prayers of thanksgiving is
one way of
doing this, alternatively from May 2003 secular naming ceremonies
are available in England
at Registry Offices and we offer a similar Naming
Ceremony at Forest Church.
Contact us by email or on 01594 542232
We are pleased to be able to offer our
beautiful Church for Weddings, Marriage Blessings
and Anniversary Renewal
of Wedding Vows. Wedding Ceremonies are undertaken by the
Parish Priest
who is able to process the whole wedding application in house, taking care
of
the legal preliminaries as well as the Christian celebration.
Those who are hoping to be married at
Forest Church should normally either be members
of our Church or actually
resident within our Church Parish. It is also sometimes possible
to
be married here, even if not resident here, by means of a legal
permission called a Licence.
Please contact the Vicar on 01594 542232
for more details of this possibility.
If this is to be a second marriage there
are guidelines that the Church of England has issued
for the advice of couples
and clergy. It may be legally possible for you to be married here
but only if you are either members of our Church or resident within our
Church Parish.
If neither is the case, it is not presently possible to marry you here
under English law.
The Church of England does not at
present issue special licences for marriage of divorcees.
Other possibilities
may include a Wedding Blessing after a Civil Marriage (see below)
or a
service in another (non Church of England) Church or Chapel. If you
need advice on
how to proceed or wish to ask questions or discuss this further
then don't hesitate
to contact the Vicar on 01594 542232.
If a full Wedding Service is not possible
for personal or legal reasons, it may still be possible
for a Wedding Blessing
(Prayers after a Civil Wedding) to be celebrated in our Church.
Typically a Wedding might take place at a Registry Office in the morning
and the couple
and guests would come to Church immediately afterwards for
their Wedding Celebration.
Such a Service includes many of the parts of
a full Wedding Service but not the legal
pre-requisites nor the register
signings.
One tradition which is becoming more
popular is to include a Church Celebration as part of
a Wedding Anniversary
weekend. Renewal of Wedding vows is a lovely way to mark the
occasion by
giving thanks to God for your relationship and pledging yourselves together
for
the future. This celebration can also contain many elements of
the Wedding Service and
sometimes involves bridesmaids, bestman and family
members who were present at the
actual wedding years ago.
From time to time and sadly a Wedding
Ring may be lost and a replacement obtained.
At such a time, some
couples wish to revisit the Church where they were first married or
a Church
of their choice for prayers to be said recalling their Wedding Vows and
blessing
the new Wedding Ring. This can take place by arrangement
quite quickly if required.
Please contact the Vicar by email or on
01594 542232 to arrange such a ceremony..
Within the Church of England, initiation
into the Faith is normally in two parts, Baptism
(otherwise known as Christening)
as a child followed by Confirmation (adult commitment)
at teenage years
or later. It is not possible for a person who has been Baptised as a child
to
be baptised again as an adult within our Church. Baptism is a once
for all sacrament which
marks the entry of an individual into the life of
the Church. Confirmation marks "coming of age"
in the faith and
the beginning of a life of Christian Service in the Church and the World.
Sometimes a persons faith may become
"real" for the first time, way after Baptism
and even Confirmation
has taken place. This is not a surprise but evidence that the Holy
Spirit has
indeed been active in that persons life over many years. If this
is a very strong experience,
it may be felt necessary to mark a new level
of commitment and a newly found love for
the Lord in a special ceremony.
Renewal of Baptismal Vows with a Public Profession
of Faith within
Parish Worship is the way forward. The Vicar would be delighted to
discuss this posibility with you.
Since the early beginnings of the Church,
the power of prayer has been focussed on
individuals at times of particular
need. Every Sunday those requesting prayer are included
in our regular
times of intercession at the Parish Worship. More personal prayers can be
offered by the Parish Priest along with Confession (sharing of failings
and forgiveness),
Prayer with Laying on of Hands and Anointing (for
the strengthening of the Holy Spirit).
It is our belief that all parts of
our person - body, soul (or character) and spirit are resonant
with God's
life giving power. When discord, stress and illness come to our lives,
the
application of prayer and the focussing of spiritual healing can have
great benefits to our recovery.
Feel free to email us your prayer requests
or phone 01594 542232 to arrange for prayer to be
offered locally or at
a distance.
Baptisms and Weddings are obvious times
of "new beginnings", but so are moves of work
or change of house.
Sometimes new beginnings bring new and very real challenges,
what
better time to seek the Lord's blessing and help and to commit the future
to the Lord
in prayer and celebration. The Vicar is available to offer prayers
of dedication or blessing
either in Church (on taking up a new job)
or at your home (when moved into a new house).
A more sombre part of our services to
the community but no less important, our Church is
available to parishioners
and non-parishioners for funeral services and services to celebrate
the
life of a loved one. You would normally contact a Funeral Director to arrange
this,
mentioning our Church as part of the arrangements. The Vicar
is also available to conduct
such services at Crematorium Chapels or in
your home.
Forest Church has an extensive Church
Yard available for Burials or Burial of Ashes after Cremation.
It is the
usual practice in this part of the world to arrange Burial either at your
local Parish Church (if it has a Grave Yard) or at a Local Authority Burial
Ground.
We are only able to offer a new grave
at Forest Church to those who are members of our
Church (or their partner
or spouse) or those who live in our Church Parish, or those who
actually
die within our Church Parish.
We are able to offer a Cremation Plot for
Burial of Ashes after Cremation to any family
who apply, regardless of residential
qualification.
Further Burials in existing family graves
may be possible, after consultation with other
family members, the Vicar
and the Funeral Director involved.
Requiems are arranged directly with
the Vicar unless the Funeral Service itself is a Requiem,
in which case please
advise the Funeral Director of this when booking the Funeral.
This is a broad outline of the
Services that we offer at our Church,
if in doubt please do ask,
the
old saying holds true...."if you don't ask : you don't get !".
