Special services

 We welcome enquires about baptisms, weddings and funerals. Please talk to the Parish Secretary on  0114 236 3335


Baptism

We're so glad to know you're thinking of baptism for your child. Your child is precious to you and precious to God. Baptism is a 'sacrament' (holy ritual to symbolise grace) in the Christian tradition that is traced back to Jesus himself being baptised in the river Jordan. At a Baptism service you promise to raise your child to know God loves them, and to help them to follow Jesus as a member of the Church.  In the service we are thanking God for his gift of life, making a decision to start your child on the journey of faith and asking for the Church's support.

For your child, baptism marks the start of a journey of faith, which involves turning away from all that is evil, turning towards Jesus and becoming a member of the local and worldwide Christian family.  You also invite friends and/or family members to become Godparents to your child, and they make promises to guide and support your child on their Christian journey.  Godparents should be Baptised themselves.

Baptisms are held as part of the 10am Morning Worship service one Sunday of each month. You should live in Dore parish, or have a strong connection with Christ Church.  Please get in touch with the Church Office to find out when the next Baptism services are to be held. We meet with families a few times to talk through the service and what it means for you and the church.


Vicar holding baby for Baptism
Hands wearing wedding rings

Weddings

We are delighted to hold weddings at Christ Church, and have a booklet to explain most of the things you need to know about booking and arranging your wedding (see the bottom of this page to download the current booklet).To be married at Christ Church you need to currently live, or have lived, within the Parish boundary, or satisfy Legal Qualifying Connections as required by the Marriage Measure 2007 - all of this information is within the booklet, and can be found on the booking form.

If either of you has been married before it may still be possible for you to be married in Church, but you will need to have a conversation with the Vicar to explore what happened during your first marriage and what you have learned from the experience. There will need to be at least two meetings with the Vicar before it will be possible to fix a wedding if that is appropriate for you.

The Church Office should be contacted in the first instance to check whether you have a Legal Qualifying Connection with the church.   Our Parish Administrator also holds the church diary, and can tell you whether the church is available on the date you have in mind for your wedding day.  They will send you the booking form once they have discussed connections and dates with you. Please note that we will be closed in the first part of 2024 but will have a much improved beautiful building for weddings when we reopen later in the year.

You may also find Your Church Wedding website helpful.

To check the official Parish Boundary, please go to A Church Near You website, and type the postcode S17 3GY into the 'search' box. This shows you a map of the roads which come under Christ Church Dore.  If you type in your own postcode, this will show you the name of the Parish Church where you live.




Funerals

A funeral is used to mark the end of a person's life here on earth. Family and friends come together to express grief, give thanks for the life lived and commend the person into God's keeping. These can be a small, quiet ceremony or a large occasion in a packed church. Everyone is entitled to either a burial service (funeral) or to have their ashes buried. Christ Church is a closed churchyard which means new graves cannot be dug.  The Church of England website has a useful resource page for funeral planning.



Lit candles

Remembrance Sunday

The Remembrance Day service is held on the 2nd Sunday in November. There is a short service at 10am in Christ Church, and we then move out of our building to join the Methodist Church and members of the Uniformed Organisations at the War Memorial (corner of Vicarage Lane and Savage Lane) for a community act of Remembrance and wreath laying.  During the service we commit ourselves to work in penitence and faith for reconciliation between the nations, that all people may, together, live in freedom, justice and peace.  We pray for all who in bereavement, disability and pain continue to suffer the consequences of fighting and terror. We remember with thanksgiving and sorrow those whose lives, in world wars and conflicts past and present, have been given and taken away.  During the pandemic we have developed a way that the whole community can contribute their individual act of remembrance by placing a net for poppies on the side wall of the Church building.


Wreath of red poppies for Remembrance Sunday

Harvest

Our Harvest Festival is usually held in September/early October - it is an 'All Age' service, celebrating God's goodness in Creation with songs & hymns, interactive Bible stories and teaching, creative prayer, and the 'traditional' offering of produce which has been given to our local Foodbank which we regularly support.  As an A Rocha eco church silver award holder this service is special to us and we remind ourselves of the journey we are on to net zero by 2030 and an even more biodiverse churchyard.