A British church wants its congregants to know they can be born again according to their preferred gender.
The New Chapel Unitarian and Free Christian in Greater Manchester is now offering "transgender baptisms" for those who want to select the gender they will emerge from the baptismal font.
"Baptismal services do not seek a child’s salvation but dedicate the parents to their task to raise the child to have virtues and principles by which to live. Ancient symbols may be used but they will reflect modern ideas and beliefs," the Denton church says on its website.
Worship leader Jean Clements, 41, told the Manchester Evening News Jan. 30 that transgender communities were marginalized by other denominations, which spurred her into action.
Clements cited a same-sex marriage ceremony she officiated last year as proof transgender baptisms are necessary. The couple had a transgender child.
"I felt saddened by the fact that this family were being shunned by many mainstream churches. However, the family came to New Chapel, the congregation welcomed the family with open arms."
New Chapel Unitarian and Free Christian has also agreed to perform a second baptism on a 10-year-old who identifies as a girl.
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"I am so happy that they have now said I can be baptized because although I was previously baptized, it was as a boy, with a different name," the child said in a statement, the Independent reported Monday. "I feel as though it was not really me who was baptized, but somebody else. At the moment I feel separate from God and as a child who has a strong faith I want to be close to Him."
Many churches perform baptisms by invoking the Holy Trinity: "I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Unitarians do not.
The Catholic Church, for example, would not consider Unitarian baptism a valid sacrament.