How to Plan a Christening or Baptism
Planning for a baptism or christening is a wonderful experience of a lifetime. It allows you to bring together your friends and family to celebrate a beautiful moment in someone’s life. The planning process doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, you can ask your minister to help you plan out the details. Here is an easy, step-by-step checklist you can follow that will ensure that the baptism or christening is both memorable and successful.
Step 1: Choose your child’s godparents.
Choosing your child’s godparents is the most important step in the process. You will want to find honest people who are good role models. Furthermore, you will also want to find people who are willing to help your child as he learns about the world, it's various peoples and religions. Therefore, it’s a good idea to select close family friends or relatives who you can trust to broaden their spiritual journey through life and into adulthood.
Step 2: Pick a date and time.
Most churches have certain days set aside to perform baptisms and christenings. If this is a non-denominational or interfaith ceremony flexibility is more on your side. Once you know your officiants schedule and yours, consider a day that will accommodate everyone’s schedule additionally. While this may seem daunting, don’t worry. Unless the ceremony is for a newborn baby, you will often have enough flexibility to decide on a day that’s agreeable to everybody.
Step 3: Ask your church about its baptismal customs or learn safe alternatives.
You probably know about the christening or baptism customs already. Nevertheless, it’s a good idea to go over them with your minister or officiant. He can also tell you about any other details such as what to wear or what will be said at the ceremony. This will help all of the participants to know what to expect the day of the ceremony. It will also make going through the ceremony a much more dignified process.
Step 4: Ask your minister if there are any classes involved, and prepare yourself.
Sometimes, participants may be asked to attend a class that teaches the meaning behind the baptismal ceremony. This is common among many faiths and religious groups. Therefore, please ask your minister if such classes are needed before the ceremony. If you are taking a more alternative route, then ask around and learn from the experience of others.
Step 5: Announce the ceremony to your friends and family.
Once you know when and where the ceremony is going to be held, announce the ceremony to your friends and family.
A written invitation is still a great way to tell people about it. However, phone calls or e-mails are also suitable. Try to tell people about the ceremony two or more weeks in advance. This will give everyone enough time to plan ahead to attend the ceremony. Be sure to consider closely who invitations will be sent to, more often than not oversights do occur.
Step 6: Consider the use of audio-visual equipment.
Many people are following the trend of using audio-visual equipment to memorialize special events. Therefore, please ask in advance about using still or video cameras at the ceremony, you never know who might be able to assist you. This is also a good time to tell your guests in advance whether or not it’s okay to take pictures or record during the ceremony.
Step 7: Shop for your outfit for the ceremony.
If you've researched or spoken to a minister about baptismal customs, it will be easy to shop for your outfit. If you haven't, please allow yourself enough time to do so. You will need to know which outfits will be the most appropriate for the ceremony. Once you know what sort of outfit to purchase, please make sure that the outfit is clean and fits well with the ceremony. This keeps the experienced dignified and shows that you respect the meaning behind the ceremony.
Step 8: Get the refreshments ready.
If you're thinking about serving refreshments, please attend to them before the ceremony. The refreshments don’t have to be fancy. As long as you mean well, they will be well-received.
Step 10: Go to the ceremony!
Now that you've done the work planning for the ceremony, the hard part's over. Go to the ceremony and relax knowing you've done everything possible to make this special day run smoothly. If you'd like, please share your experience with the Universal Life Church and others online.
