BAPTISMS, WEDDINGS AND FUNERALS

Baptisms 
(sometimes called Christenings) 
will ordinarily take place WITHIN our services of Parish Eucharist on Sundays set aside for this purpose.  The service begins at 10.00am and lasts for between 1 hour 15 minutes and 1 hour 30 minutes.

A booking form can be obtained by email request of the Vicar and should be returned to him, promptly.  He will also make arangements to provide an opportunity for preparations.
For further details of what we do at St Peter's-in-the-Forest, and why, please refer to our parish policy on Holy Baptism.

Weddings  
We love marrying people! It is a great privilege of any parish church's ife to share in a significant moment of commitment between a man and a woman as they pledge before God and their friends and family to share married life together.
We would gladly marry all those who request marriage at St Peter's-in-the-Forest!
Regrettably, there are some legal and boundary directions about who may marry, where. Hopefully, we can help you to navigate those initial enquiries...

So, if you are preparing for getting married and wondering about how you go about it, do please check out this, on the Diocesan website. Particularly useful is the 'parish finder' app, which will enable you to discover quickly which parish you live in (nb you have an automatic right to request marriage in your resident parish, so long as you are presently single and have not been married or in a civil partnership before.)

If you find that you are not resident in our parish, there may be another qualification which you can demonstrate to have St Peter's-in-the-Forest regarded as 'your' church. Details of these are here.

If, after this initial factfind, you need a further conversation with the Vicar or his PA, here or elsewhere, get on the telephone or email!  Also, do read further details of what we do at St Peter's-in-the-Forest, and why, by reference to our parish policies on Weddings and marriage after divorce.


Funerals 
A funeral marks the close of a human life on earth. It is the opportunity for friends and family to express their grief, to give thanks for the life which has now completed its journey in this world and to commend the person into God's keeping.
As far back into history as we can penetrate, human beings seem to have felt the need for a ceremonial leave-taking of those who have died.
A funeral service in the Church of England - whether in a parish church or a crematorium chapel - may be very short and quiet with only a few members of the family present, or an occasion of great solemnity with music, hymns and a packed church.  A funeral may also be set within a celebration of the Eucharist: this is called a Funeral Requiem.
Whatever the pattern of service, the words and actions all speak of a loving God and the preciousness to him of every human being and the Christian hope of resurrection.
The clergy at St Peter's-in-the-Forest always feel it a great privilege to be asked to conduct a funeral or offer a Funeral Requiem, and we are always very pleased and willing to help in any way we can.
In the first instance, please ask your Funeral Director to contact the Vicar or his PA.

Please note that St Peter's churchyard is now closed to new burials.  
It remains possible to inter ashed remains.

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