The Church of England this week has released three sets of resources with the aim of equipping local parishes across England with the tools to mark major milestones in a Christian's journey of faith.
The new resources have been made available in response to an outcry from churches for quality materials to help celebrate important events which allow the public to affirm their faith and commitment to Jesus, such as baptisms and confirmations.
For the first time, the Church of England's official publisher has created a range of certificates to record Baptism, Confirmation and Becoming a Godparent.
Designed to complement the award-winning design of other Common Worship material, the bright certificates act as a reminder of the vows given to God at these services, and they aim to help parishes fulfil their duty to give those involved a permanent reminder of the day.
Each certificate has a prayer from one of the services from 'Common Worship: Christian Initiation' series on the reverse.
This week also saw the launch of the Church's first official range of Baptism and Confirmation Cards, primarily to help parish churches celebrate these important milestones in the lives of their members. The set has been created by independent illustrator Craig Cameron.
The third new material released is 'Words for Life', which is a set of double-sided cards specially designed to be used during the 'Presentation of the Four Texts', one of the new liturgies published in 'Common Worship: Christian Initiation' earlier this year.
The Church of England say that the service was created to give churches an authorised liturgy that could be used creatively alongside evangelism and nurture courses such as Emmaus and Alpha to mark a step towards baptism or confirmation, or possibly as a re-affirmation of the vows taken at these services.
The cards show Jesus' Summary of the Law, The Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed and the Beatitudes and are promoted as being compatible as a personal prayer aid.
The Revd Peter Moger, National Worship Development Officer for the Church of England, is encouraged by the demand for these resources: "143,600 people were baptised in the Church of England in 2004, alongside 30,400 confirmations. These are very considerable numbers and these new materials will help the Church of England open its arms wide to welcome those who want to make a commitment to grow in their Christian faith."
