We have all your big life events covered at St. Francis church Mackworth, Derby.
Whether you are looking for baptism and wedding ceremonies or to hold a funeral, we would be delighted to help you mark your life event. If you have any questions about how a baptism, wedding or funeral works, we’d be happy to answer your questions, so do get in touch with one of the church team.
Baptism
Baptism is also known as christening, and it’s awesome that you may be considering baptism either for yourself or your child. They are are incredible services and we love celebrating together.
A baptism is much more than an excuse for a party. Baptism is something that happens on the outside to show what God is doing.
Either you (or you on behalf of your child or children) gets to make incredible promises about turning towards Jesus and living for Him in response to His death in your place and His resurrection from the dead. It’s the outward sign of joining Jesus’ church. See ‘What’s it all about’, if that doesn’t make much sense.
At St Francis we get all parents and Godparents to do at least the first four sessions of something called Alpha because we want people to know what it is they are promising. Alpha is an opportunity to explore what Christians believe, millions of people have done it and it has been run in churches, homes, pubs, prisons, online and many other ways.
We ask people looking at baptism, to come to a number of services, so that you can get to know us and decide if we are the church that you want to be part of as you bring up your child to know Jesus.
It may be that you will decide that you are unable to make the baptism promises with integrity. If this is the case we do offer something called thanksgiving which is where we say thank you to God for your child, but it does not involve any promises.
If you'd like to find out more about you or a family member getting baptised at St. Francis, please drop us a DM or get in touch.
Baptism Details
We would love you to come to St. Francis for a month before we finalise a date, so you can see what group of people you are joining!
We would also ask that you join us for four sessions of Alpha (see ‘What’s it all about’) so that you know what you are promising.
If you want to see what things are like at St Francis, do check out our playlist on Spotify.
We hold baptisms in the morning service.
Getting Married
We love weddings at St. Francis and we would love for you to celebrate your special day here on the Mackworth estate, if you live in our parish (see the map on A Church Near You). The Church of England weddings website has really good information on how to get married at St. Francis.
If you'd like to find out more about marriage or a wedding blessing at St. Francis, please get in touch.
WEDDING BLESSING
Alternatively you may like to have a Wedding Blessing for a bunch of reasons, like "I had a wedding abroad and friends and family want to celebrate", "life’s been complicated", "money is tight", or "I just want to renew my wedding vows at a special anniversary".
A wedding blessing at St. Francis Mackworth might be great for your situation. These come with very minimal costs and have a great degree of flexibility to them, so we can make the service perfect for what you want to celebrate together.
READING YOUR BANNS
If you live in Mackworth, but are getting married in another church then you will need to contact Andy (our church leader) directly to arrange to have your Banns read at St. Francis.
COSTS
For all costs to do with weddings, reading your banns, marriage certificates and funerals, please see our costs page.
Funerals
Funerals are often really hard, but we want the services to honour the person who has died and we want to care for you in any preparation and on the day.
We can only offer funerals according to the Church of England and we do not have a graveyard, so burials will need to be at Nottingham Road Cemeteries. We do not have the facility here to inter ashes.
To help you plan a funeral the Church of England funerals website is very helpful and has lots of tips on how to make your funeral a special time of giving thanks for your loved ones life.
If you'd like to find out more about funerals or services of remembrance at St. Francis, please get in touch.
Remembering our loved ones
We will hold a special service of remembrance each year.
Costs
For all costs to do with weddings, reading your banns, marriage certificates and funerals, please see our costs page.
