Sponsors and Godparents in the 1928 BCP

Sponsors and Godparents in the 1928 BCP names the baptismal sureties who stand with a child at the font, answer in the child's name, and remain connected to the child's Christian instruction until personal ratification in Confirmation. In the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer, "Sponsors" is the ordinary American term in the Catechism, while "Godfathers and Godmothers" remains the liturgical term in the baptismal office. The office therefore joins family responsibility, parish catechesis, and the Church's public promise that baptized children are to be trained in repentance, faith, and obedience.

Prayer Book Requirements

The 1928 baptismal rubric expects three godparents for each infant when they can be had, but also makes an American pastoral adjustment by admitting parents as sponsors.

There shall be for every Male-child to be baptized, when they can be had, two Godfathers and one Godmother; and for every Female, one Godfather and two Godmothers; and Parents shall be admitted as Sponsors, if it be desired.

This rubric keeps the older Anglican pattern of more than one sponsor, so the child's baptism is not treated as a merely private family ceremony. Yet the permission for parents to serve as sponsors prevents the godparent rule from implying that parental duty is secondary. The sponsors' presence is public and ecclesial: they come with the child and the people to the font, give notice to the minister, and answer within the congregation's prayer.

The same office defines the content of the sponsor's answers. The godparent renounces the devil, the world, and the flesh; professes the Apostles' Creed; desires baptism in that faith; and promises obedience by grace.

Dost thou, therefore, in the name of this Child, renounce the devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covetous desires of the same, and the sinful desires of the flesh, so that thou wilt not follow, nor be led by them?
Answer. I renounce them all; and, by God's help, will endeavor not to follow, nor be led by them.
Minister. Dost thou believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith, as contained in the Apostles' Creed?
Answer. I do.
Minister. Wilt thou be baptized in this Faith?
Answer. That is my desire.
Minister. Wilt thou then obediently keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of thy life?
Answer. I will, by God's help.

The phrase "in the name of this Child" is the key to the office. The sponsor does not replace the child's later faith; rather, the sponsor gives the Church the child's baptismal profession in the mode appropriate to infancy. The structure is covenantal and catechetical: renunciation orders repentance, the Creed orders faith, and obedience orders the baptized life. The repeated phrase "by God's help" also prevents a moralistic reading. The promise is serious, but it is made under grace.

Catechetical Meaning

The 1928 Catechism returns to the same promises from the standpoint of the baptized person being prepared for Confirmation. It asks who gave the Christian name and what the sponsors promised.

My Sponsors in Baptism; wherein I was made a member of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven.
Question. What did your Sponsors then for you?
Answer. They did promise and vow three things in my name: First, that I should renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanity of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh; Secondly, that I should believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith; And Thirdly, that I should keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of my life.

This catechetical use shows why Anglican godparentage is not sentimental sponsorship. The child is to learn what was promised, own it personally, and understand baptismal identity as membership in Christ, filial adoption, and inheritance of the kingdom. The threefold promise also shapes practical instruction: teach the child to resist sin, to confess the Creed, and to keep the commandments.

The Catechism immediately asks whether the baptized person is bound by what the sponsors promised.

Yes, verily; and by God's help so I will. And I heartily thank our heavenly Father, that he hath called me to this state of salvation, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. And I pray unto God to give me his grace, that I may continue in the same unto my life's end.

The answer balances obligation and thanksgiving. The baptized person is "bound" to believe and do what was promised, but the obligation begins from God's call "to this state of salvation" and continues by prayer for grace. Sponsors therefore serve a pastoral end: their promises anticipate the child's mature confession, not as bare legal fiction, but as the Church's pledge that the baptized child will be taught to answer for himself.

Sponsors, Instruction, and Confirmation

The 1928 Prayer Book connects sponsors to continuing instruction. In the Offices of Instruction, responsibility is shared by parents, guardians, and sponsors.

And all Fathers, Mothers, Guardians, and Sponsors shall bring those, for whose religious nurture they are responsible, to the Church at the time appointed, to receive instruction by the Minister.

This rubric is the practical counterpart of the fontal promises. Sponsors should not be chosen merely for honor, kinship, or social convenience. They are among those "responsible" for religious nurture, which in the 1928 Prayer Book means bringing the child to the minister's instruction and toward Confirmation.

Confirmation then makes explicit what has been implicit since baptism: the person now renews the promise personally.

Do ye here, in the presence of God, and of this congregation, renew the solemn promise and vow that ye made, or that was made in your name, at your Baptism; ratifying and confirming the same; and acknowledging yourselves bound to believe and to do all those things which ye then undertook, or your Sponsors then undertook for you?

The sequence is therefore baptism, catechesis, and confirmation. Sponsors speak for the child at baptism; they help bring the child to instruction; and the confirmed person then ratifies and confirms what was undertaken. This is why godparentage in the 1928 BCP belongs naturally with Baptismal Promises (1928 BCP), Baptismal Sponsors in the 1928 BCP Catechism, and the Offices of Instruction (1928 BCP).

Historical Anglican Context

The 1928 wording stands in continuity with the Church of England's 1662 Catechism, where the older English terms are "Godfathers and Godmothers" and the theological logic is stated in relation to infant baptism.

Question. Why then are infants baptized, when by reason of their tender age they cannot perform them?
Answer. Because they promise them both by their sureties: which promise, when they come to age, themselves are bound to perform.

The 1662 answer helps interpret the 1928 American office. "Sureties" are not magical substitutes for personal repentance and faith; they are the Church's ordered way of promising that the infant will be brought to perform personally what infancy cannot yet perform.

Michael Ferrebee Sadler, a nineteenth-century Anglican catechetical writer, explains the same duty in practical terms. His definition is useful because it treats "sponsors" and "sureties" as words of responsibility rather than mere ceremony.

What is the duty of a god-parent or sponsor?
To see that the infant be taught, so soon as he shall be able to learn, what a solemn vow and promise has been made in his name.

Sadler's explanation also guards against the error that the child's baptism depends on the sponsor's faith as its cause. In his section on infant baptism, he says the Church requires the strongest available pledge for future repentance and faith, while still distinguishing that pledge from the ground of baptism itself.

The Church requires that at their Baptism their godparents should promise repentance and faith in their name.
Does the duty of the godparents end here?
No: it is their duty to see that the infant be taught so soon as he shall be able to learn what a solemn vow, promise, and profession, he hath made by them.

Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere record a related historical point in their discussion of post-1662 revision proposals. They quote the proposed 1689 explanation that godparents were retained as ancient custom and as additional sureties for Christian education.

Whereas it is appointed by this Office that all children shall be presented by Godfathers and Godmothers to be baptized, which is still continued according to the ancient custom of the Church, that so, besides the obligation that lies on the parents to breed up their children in the Christian religion, there may be likewise other sureties to see that the parents do their duty, and to look to the Christian education of the persons baptized, in case of the default or death of the parents.

That historical explanation fits the 1928 American adjustment. The Prayer Book admits parents as sponsors, but it does not collapse sponsor duty into parental feeling. Godparents remain ecclesial witnesses and helpers in Christian education, especially where parents fail, die, or cannot provide sufficient instruction.

Theological Significance

Sponsors and godparents in the 1928 BCP are best understood under four connected headings.

First, they are witnesses to grace. Baptism is God's sacramental act in Christ, not the sponsor's achievement. The sponsor's words belong within the Church's prayer that God will regenerate, receive, and strengthen the baptized child.

Second, they are sureties for catechesis. The promises name the material of Christian formation: repentance from sin, faith in the Creed, and obedience to God's commandments. The Catechism then turns those promises into instruction.

Third, they are helpers of the household and parish. The 1928 rubrics name fathers, mothers, guardians, and sponsors together, so the child's nurture is neither privatized to the family alone nor abstracted into the parish apart from the family.

Fourth, they point toward personal ratification. The child is not meant to remain forever under another's answer. Confirmation asks the baptized person to renew, ratify, and confirm what was promised in his name. Sponsor duty is therefore fulfilled when it helps bring the baptized child to mature confession, prayer for grace, and faithful participation in the Church's life.

See Also

• Book of Common Prayer (1928)
• Occasional Offices (1928 BCP)
• Baptism (1928 BCP)
• Baptismal Promises (1928 BCP)
• Baptismal Sponsors in the 1928 BCP Catechism
• Confirmation (1928 BCP)
• Offices of Instruction (1928 BCP)

External Links

• Society of Archbishop Justus: The 1928 Book of Common Prayer, Baptism
• Society of Archbishop Justus: The 1928 Book of Common Prayer, Catechism
• Society of Archbishop Justus: The 1928 Book of Common Prayer, Offices of Instruction and Confirmation