Lesson video

Welcome to our lesson today.

My name is Mrs. Clinton, and I'm really pleased that you've come to join me for today's lesson.

We're going to learn some new things and hopefully have some really great discussions and thinking time.

Today's lesson is, "Christian baptism of a baby" and it's part of the unit, "New life, how is a new child welcomed?" Our learning outcome for today is, "I can understand how infant baptism welcomes a new child into the family of the church." We have some keywords for today, and so we're going to do, "I say, you say." Are you ready? I say, "Infant baptism." You say- I say, "Infant baptism." You say- An infant baptism is a sacred ceremony where a baby is welcomed into the church family of God.

I say, "Promise." You say- I say, "Promise." You say- And a promise is an agreement to do or not to do something.

I say, "Godparent." You say- I say, "Godparent." You say- And a godparent is an individual chosen by the parents to take a role in the child's Christian upbringing and development.

In our lesson today, Christian baptism of a baby, we have two learning cycles.

The first learning cycle is, "What happens at an infant baptism service?" And our second learning cycle is, "What symbols are used as an infant baptism?" So we're going to start with number one, "What happens at an infant baptism service?" I wonder if you know what is in the picture.

Have you seen one of these buildings before? Can you help me? What is it? Could you talk to the person next to you and give them your ideas of what this is? Shall we look and see? It's a church.

Well done, if you got that right, A church is a special place, a special building where often people who are Christians go to pray, to meet each other, to hear stories from the Bible, and also sometimes to sing songs to God or about God.

Diane and Mark have chosen to have a special ceremony for their baby called an infant baptism.

Friends and family are coming to their church for this special service.

So, can you remember, where does an infant baptism service take place? Is it, A, in a park, B, in a church, or C, in a shop? Talk to the person next to you.

A, B, or C.

Shall we have a look for the answer? It's B.

Well done if you got that correct.

An infant baptism service takes place in a church.

So here's Mark and Diane.

And once inside the church, there'll be a special service to welcome their new baby into the church family.

Diane and Mark have chosen some godparents for their new baby, and they will all gather around the font inside the church for the special service.

Here's a font and I wonder what you notice about it.

Would you like to talk to your partner about what you can see? To me, it looks quite old and I can see a cross and I can also see a hole in the top of it.

Hmm, I'm wondering what that might be for.

Now the hole, font holds a bowl of water that is used in an infant baptism for the priest.

And that's the hole, the dark bit, the circle we can see in the top, that's the bowl that will hold the water.

The font is often found near the entrance to a church.

The parents and godparents will make promises to God about how they will help bring the child up as a Christian.

So they'll gather around it and they'll make their promises.

Here's a picture of Diane and Mark and one of their godparents.

Can you see the baby? And can you see the priest who's pouring some water over the baby's head? So after the promises are made, the priest will take some sacred oil and he'll put the sign of the cross on Diane and Mark's baby's head.

Then the priest will take some water from the font and pour it over the baby's head.

Everyone in that picture's smiling, aren't they? They look like they're happy that this special ceremony is taking place.

This now means the baby is baptised.

Finally, a baptism candle is lit and given to Diane and Mark.

And can you see, there's some images on that candle? Could you talk to your partner? What can you see has been put on that candle? Let's come back together.

I can see little baby feet.

I can also see some water at the bottom and a fish.

An early symbol for Christians was a fish.

There's also a dove and there's also sunlight, and the candle brings light into the darkness.

Let's check our understanding.

Is this statement true or false? Godparents make their promises to the vicar.

Is that true or false? What do you think? Let's have a look for the answer.

It's false.

Godparents make their promises to God, not to the vicar.

Can you rearrange these images into the order that they take place at a special infant baptism service? What's the right order? A, B, C.

What comes first in the special service? You might like to talk with a partner and compare your thoughts.

Here's the right answer.

It's C, A, B.

The correct order is people come to the church, the baby is baptised and then the baptism candle is lit.

Well done if you got that right, that's great learning.

Now we're going to go on to part two of our lesson on Christian baptism of a baby.

And now we're going to think about "What symbols are used as an infant baptism?" At Diane and Mark's baby's infant baptism, the priest will make the sign of a cross on the baby's forehead before baptism.

Do you remember earlier I showed you where he would make, or she would make, that sign of the cross? Now the cross is a really important symbol for Diane and Mark.

They're Christians, and often you will see on churches, a cross, to show that it is a church.

It's a special building for Christian people.

It reminds them of Jesus and the importance of Him.

At Diane and Mark's baby's infant baptism, the priest pours some water over their baby's head.

Water is a symbol of cleansing.

Some Christians believe that the water makes the baby pure and clean before God.

A bit like if I've been, I don't know, doing some gardening, I might then wash my hands and my hands then become clean.

They might be dirty, they become clean.

For Christians, the water here is a symbol of cleaning on the inside.

Not just the outside, not just physical dirt, but anything that would separate them from God.

Okay, little bit more thinking now.

Is this statement true or false? Some Christians put the sign of a circle on a baby's forehead when they're baptised.

Hmm, do you know the answer? Is that true or false? It's false.

Christians often put the sign of a cross on a baby's forehead before they're baptised with the water because it's reminding them of Jesus and their special symbol.

Well done if you got that right, that's great understanding.

At Diane and Mark's baby's infant baptism, the priest will give them a lit candle to symbolise that the light of Jesus will be there to guide their baby's life.

Let's check for understanding.

Can you complete this sentence? The baptism candle symbolises, A, the light of Jesus guiding the baby's life.

B, the promises that godparents make or C, the importance of Jesus? Talk to a partner and decide, is it A, B, or C? Shall we look, what's the right answer? It was A, the baptism candle symbolises the light of Jesus, guiding the baby's life.

Andeep is designing a candle to give to a Christian family who are having their new baby baptised.

What symbol do you think would be the best for him to add to his candle for this special ceremony for the baby? I'd like you to draw your answer on the sheet.

You can work together in pairs if you want to, work with a friend or a partner.

But what's your idea? What would be the best symbol to put on there? So here are some examples of what your infant baptism symbol could look like on your candle.

Your candle could have a cross on it.

Maybe you've put a font on it.

Maybe you've put some words on it, or even the baby's feet.

In the candle we saw earlier there was an image of light, the sun.

There was a dove for peace.

So all of those things would be lovely images to draw on a candle to be able to give to someone at their baptism.

So today we've been thinking about Christian baptism of a baby, and we have learned that some Christians have a special ceremony to welcome a new baby into their church family.

This ceremony is called infant baptism.

The parents and the godparents make promises to God about how they will help a child's Christian upbringing and development.

I hope you've enjoyed designing that infant baptism candle.

It would be so lovely if you ever had the chance to go to one of these special ceremonies, or maybe you've already been to one, and that you can talk about what you saw and what happened.

I hope you've enjoyed the learning today, and I hope that you can remember the most important things that we've learned today.

So I'm going to say goodbye now and say thank you for doing this lesson with me.

I'm so proud of all those answers that you got correct.

I really enjoyed your talking and your thinking, and I'm really hoping that you'll continue this excellent work when I see you next.

So I'm going to say goodbye for now.

Goodbye, and I hope to see you again soon.