Why the C of E’s first Godparents Sunday is a time to celebrate our big promises to young people

May 2, 2016 by

From the Church of England website:

Every week around 6000 or more adults take on the role of godparent to a child baptised in the Church of England. That’s an amazing 350,000 each year* – more people than live in Cardiff or Coventry – and in 2014 the Church of England baptised 114,000 children under 12. Some will be taking on the role for a second, third or even seventh time, but for many more it will be a first. The vast majority of new godparents will be young adults aged between 18 and 45, but there will be some younger and some older – I took on the role myself last year, feeling more like a god-grandparent!

Each of them will make big promises in the baptism service – promises to pray, to be an example to the child, to care for them and to lead them towards the way of faith. And to the parents and the child it is not just the promises that are important: godparents themselves are very special.

They may already have been friends of the parents for many years: parents will sometimes choose friends who go right back to their own primary school days and most will be part of a family’s story for the next 20, 30, even 50 years. Recently I have been asking at conferences for a show of hands as to how long people have known their godparents or godchildren: the record is over 50 years.

Godparents are important to children – they make big promises and they make special relationships. In fact, having godparents in a child’s life is the top reason parents give for having a child baptised – 91% gave that as one of their reasons, although 89% talked of blessing and giving their child a good start in life.

And godparents are also important to the church. We make big promises in the baptism service to welcome, support and pray for the child and the family. So it makes sense for the Church of England to acknowledge and support this relationship and to recognise its importance in the lifelong journey of discovering all that faith in Jesus Christ means.

Read here

Read also: Church of England uses ‘trendy’ Post-it notes in new service celebrating the role of godparents sparking anger from traditionalists by Jonathan Petre, Mailonline

The Revd Peter Mullen takes a less-than-favourable view of the new ideas.

 

 

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