Two for the price of one

A leap of faith for weddings

The Church of England's plan to offer a joint wedding and baptism service is practical - and could be taken further.

The Church of England has announced that it is going to offer a kind of job lot in its wedding services. Get married and you can throw in the baptism of your children born out of wedlock, or maybe just a thanksgiving for the gift of a child. In one sense, this is eminently practical; statistics released this year showed that the number of young women having children outstrips the number getting married. Some 44 per cent of all babies are now born to unmarried mothers. So the Church is meeting people where they are, rather than where it has traditionally taught that they should be, which is at the altar for holy matrimony before they produce children.

One view will hold that this is the kind of moral compromise that has come to characterise the Church of England, which should play no part in the encouragement of having illegitimate children. But it is also a central tenet of the Christian faith that anyone, anywhere has access to God's grace. And apparent sins of the parents can hardly be visited on a child offered for baptism.

Our clergy are noting that, for some unmarried couples, the baptism service now fulfils a desire for a public event that demonstrates and rejoices in their commitment to family life. Both sides of the family turn out in their Sunday best, take photos of the event and celebrate with parties afterwards that are not dissimilar to wedding receptions.

We would suggest respectfully that our established Church might take one step further. As well as offering baptisms alongside marriages, it might also offer a wedding rather more robustly to those who are unmarried and bring their children to baptism. Those who are increasingly willing to celebrate their faith publicly through the baptism of their child might also like to consider the sacramental value of marriage.