Baptisms or Christenings
Most of the text here relates to services of Thanksgiving and Baptism for children, but we are thrilled to baptise adults, and it all still applies!
We offer two different services for the purposes of giving thanks, of sharing your joy, intentions and promises with the church-family, and in return, receiving prayer and support.
A baptism or christening is a commitment to follow Jesus and the journey of Christianity. It is made by the person being baptised, or their parents and godparents if they’re too young to make that commitment.
We hold our baptism services within our main Sunday services, as a really important part of a baptism is being welcomed by and joining the church family, who will be supporting and praying for you.
The baptism includes some prayers, some promises and commitments made by the candidate, or by parents and godparents, and some symbols including signing the forehead with a cross, the baptism itself (including the naming of the child/candidate), and the giving of a candle.
The baptism will be part of a longer service, which will also include songs and hymns, prayers, and a talk. There will normally also be refreshments available after the service, and also before at some locations.
A thanksgiving is very similar to a baptism, but is more focussed on giving thanks for the gift of a child, rather than commitments and promises going forwards. It includes prayers, symbols, and the opportunity to name a child.
We would really encourage you to seek either of these services in the Church that you see as your home-the one that you are going to be able to attend and become a part of the church-family. If you live in our parishes, and feel that you’ll be best able to join a different church, that’s OK! Please just let us know, so that we can pray for you! If you don’t live in our parishes, but think that you’re best able to join us, then we’re thrilled, but please make sure to let your local church know.
We believe that these services are really important and should be taken seriously. We therefore ask, particularly if you’re seeking baptism, that you come first to a baptism preparation evening. We hold these regularly through the year, and it gives you a chance to ask questions, to find out more about baptism and Christianity, and to explore whether it’s right for you. We also ask that you attend church at least twice before the service. This is so that you can get to know the church-family, feel more comfortable, and hopefully come back again in the future!
If you’d like to know more, or to ask to be invited to a baptism preparation evening, please don’t hesitate to contact the Church Office – we’d love to speak with you.
Weddings
If you’re here because you’re interested in marrying in our parishes, then congratulations! We look after all the administration for weddings from the Church Office, and are happy to talk it through with you there, so feel free to contact us. We will be asking you the below questions before we do anything else, so if you can have looked at them first, you’ll save yourself and us a bit of time!
The main questions that we normally have to check are:
- do you qualify to marry at Lawford Parish Church, Mistley Parish Church, or Bradfield Parish Church? (qualifying for one currently does not mean that you automatically qualify for the others)
- have you been divorced?
Qualifying
You have to be legally connected to the Church in which you’d like to marry. The easiest way to do this is to live in the parish. You can check if you live within the church’s parish boundaries here (https://www.achurchnearyou.com/) – just pop in your postcode and it should tell you your parish church.
The rest of the qualifying connections are laid out here . You’ll also find some more basic legal requirements here.
Please do have a look if you’re in any doubt.
Marriage after Divorce
The rules surrounding weddings for couples where one or both of the partners has been divorced have changed in the last 20 years. We are now able to discuss and explore the possibility of marriage after divorce, but it is taken on a case-by-case basis.
We therefore have a form prepared by the Church of England which we ask any couples seeking marriage after divorce to fill in and return to the Church Office. We will then arrange for a vicar to meet with you and discuss your form and the details surrounding your marriage.
It is the duty of the Vicar performing the marriage to be happy to proceed with the marriage and they will therefore decide if they feel able to marry you.
What now?
If you’d like to proceed, please contact the Church Office – we’d love to speak with you.
Funerals & Memorials
We are here to help you through one of life’s most difficult times, giving support before, during and after services, for as long as it’s needed.
Funeral Services
We are happy to talk through options and any questions you might have, but we would strongly advise you to speak to a funeral director when organising any type of funeral service. We work with many different funeral directors, and there are currently three working within our parishes, on Manningtree High Street:
- Geo. Paskell (part of the Hunnaballs Funeral group)
- The Coop Funeralcare
- R. Gwinnell & Sons
They are best able to answer your questions and to arrange everything that you might want at a service. We work closely with them, and will arrange to meet with you early on in the process to support you, and help to arrange the best service for your loved ones that we can.
For more information on planning a funeral service, please also check the Church of England’s Funerals website.
Burial
A burial can be a really meaningful part of the grieving process. We are currently able to have burials in all of our churchyards, but please be aware that Mistley Churchyard can no longer bury in new graves – only in existing family graves, previously reserved graves which are still valid, and in our ashes plots.
When selecting a site for burial, we strongly suggest that you consider how you will want to mark the site. The Church of England, and the Chelmsford area in particular, is strict about what is and is not allowed in a Church of England churchyard. Please talk to your funeral director and if in doubt, contact the Church Office if restricted options for memorials might make a difference to where you would choose to bury.
Memorials
Whether it’s for a recent burial, or to mark a currently un-marked grave, we are very happy to talk about erecting memorials in the churchyard and burial ground.
This preferably needs to be done through a funeral director or stone mason, and they should be able to advise you as to what might be possible, whether you are looking to add an inscription or replace an existing stone, or erect a new stone.
Please be aware that the Church of England, and the Chelmsford area in particular, is strict about what is and is not allowed in a Church of England churchyard. The Church Office is very happy to talk to individuals or professionals about what might be possible before an application is made.
After the Funeral
We want to support you not just before and during the service, but into the future, for as long as you would like us to help. As well as personal, practical and prayerful support, we have two particular ways in which we would like to continue to support you.
- Light a Candle: we hold an annual service with our friends at Geo. Paskells to remember all those who we have loved and lost. This is normally held early in November, offering families and friends a chance to come together, and to remember and give thanks for their loved ones. Please look out for more information in our churches, in the In Touch and Grapevine magazines, and in internal Church publications.
- Support Groups: we hold several groups for the support of the bereaved or lonely. Please check out our Groups page for more information