Special Services for Your Family

A Service for Your Child

We offer one of 2 Anglican church services for your child: Baptism or Thanksgiving. Their difference lies in the level of real, personal commitment of the parents to Jesus Christ and to involvement in his local church. Download the brochure A Church Service for Your Child and compare the services yourselves.

You can phone our office (9651-1119) for more information, but it is best to attend one of our regular Sunday services so you can get to know the church a little bit and talk to the minister afterwards. For a Baptism, begin attending church, complete the 3 part course, and then discuss a suitable date with the minister. Please note: Baptisms take place as a segment of the regular family service to which you connect. There is a little more flexibility with regard to the timing of a Thanksgiving service.

Thanksgiving

We understand that not everyone is ready for the commitments of baptism. So, if you want an Anglican service in which…

• you thank God for your child
• your child’s name is declared publicly
• we pray for your family

…then the Service of Thanksgiving for a Child is what you are looking for. This delightful and meaningful service can be arranged at a mutually convenient time at one of our church centres. Simply contact us to arrange a meeting with the minister and agree a date; no further preparation will be necessary. You can download a copy of this special service.

Baptism

In Baptism parents express high levels of personal commitment to Christ and his church.  In this Anglican service of Public Baptism you as parents publicly declare your understanding that…

• Jesus Christ’s death on the cross was for the forgiveness of your sins
• Jesus Christ’s resurrection has put him in charge of your life
• and your commitment to regularly attend and participate in the life of the local church with your children

Our 3 session preparation course helps parents understand how the Bible’s teaching about baptism is closely related to an active faith in Jesus Christ. The course is generally conducted in conjunction with a regular Sunday family service to make it easy to attend and to meet other families in our church.

Wedding Preparation

We welcome inquiries about conducting your wedding service at one of our churches. As a Christian church, we are charged with a responsibility to help prepare couples for a Christian wedding and marriage. As a general guide, we believe 3 main areas are vital…

• Christian preparation: attending services and completing our Marriage in the Bible course (3 sessions)
• Marriage preparation: attending a specially designed Growing Together course (1 full day) or the Prepare course (a number of meetings) – these courses are run by ANGLICARE and booking details can be found on their website.
• Wedding Service preparation: 3 meetings with the minister (normally in conjunction with the Bible course) and a rehearsal (normally in the week before the wedding).

As an initial step, we recommend that couples attend one of our services to see what we’re like and to meet one of the ministry staff. Contact our office if you would like to receive our brochure by mail (it will shortly be available from this page). Please note that no booking can be confirmed until you have returned an application form and spoken to our staff.

Initial inquiries by phone are welcome (9651-1119). If either party is under 18, or has been previously married, or if you live outside our area, you will need to discuss your situation with one of our ministers. In general, wedding services in Anglican churches are to be conducted by Anglican ministers and Anglican ministers are only permitted to conduct weddings inside Anglican churches.

Funeral planning

The Dural District Anglican Churches seek to serve families in our area. A minister can meet with your family to discuss arrangements, either in your home or at the church. We are open to conducting services from one of our churches or at a crematorium chapel.

To discuss the possibility of an Anglican funeral service being conducted by one of our ministry staff please phone our church office on 9651-1119. A funeral service follows the Anglican order of service, with its very helpful pattern of Bible readings and prayers. For more information, you can download the “Funeral Service Explained” brochure. The service may commence in church and then move to a cemetery or crematorium for the committal. This order may be reversed. Alternatively, the entire service can be conducted in a chapel at a crematorium or graveyard.

A member of the ministry staff meets with the family to plan the service. Together we select appropriate Bible readings, any hymns (if appropriate), and discuss the family tributes. Consideration is also given to service sheets, flowers and other practical details. Time and date of the service is arranged by mutual consent between the family, the minister and the funeral directors, and is dependent upon availability of family, minister and facilities. The length of the service varies according to a number of factors including the nature of the tributes and the amount of hymn singing (if any), as well as the time allotted at the service location (eg crematorium chapels schedule limited blocks of time).