In the Church of England there are two basic types of baptism service. There are baptism services that follow the orders of service in the Book of Common Prayer of 1662 and there are those that follow the orders of service in Common Worship that were authorised for use from 1998. The orders of service for baptism in Common Worship use more contemporary language and are the ones that are most commonly used today.

The reason that there are a number of different orders of service in both the Book of Common Prayer and Common Worship is that the form that the service will take will vary according to the context in which it is taking place. For example the form of the service will vary depending on whether adults or infants are being baptised, whether the service is taking place as part of a more informal family service or as part of the Eucharist, and whether baptism is going to be followed immediately by confirmation.

The content of the baptism services

In spite of the differences just mentioned there are a number of core elements that can be seen in the orders of service in both the Book of Common Prayer and Common Worship, elements that are central to Christian baptism and that can be found in services of baptism from very early times.

These core elements are:

• An explanation of the meaning of baptism.
• The expression of a desire to be baptised, made either by the candidates or by the parents and/or Godparents on their behalf.
• The renunciation of the devil and all that is evil and a declaration of turning to Christ, made either by the candidates for baptism or, in the case of infants, by someone speaking on their behalf. In the Book of Common Prayer it is the Godparents who do this and in Common Worship it is the parents and Godparents.
• The making of the sign of the cross on the candidates for baptism to signify that henceforth they belong to Christ and must be prepared to live as His followers.
• A prayer asking God to use the water of baptism to cleanse the candidates from sin and give them new life as part of His people.
• A declaration of Christian faith based on the ancient statement of Christian belief called the ‘Apostles’ Creed’, made either by the candidates or by the parents and/or Godparents.
• Baptism with water in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
• A prayer that those baptised may grow in holiness and may come eventually to share in the life of God’s eternal kingdom.
    
• A declaration of what it means to live as a baptised follower of Jesus Christ or, in the case of infants, a declaration of the responsibility of parents and Godparents to bring them up to follow Christ.