Anglican
Heavenly Father, we thank you that by water and the Holy Spirit you have bestowed upon these your servants the forgiveness of sin, and have raised them to the new life of grace. Sustain them, O Lord, in your Holy Spirit. Give them an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and to love you, and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works. Amen.[1]
Reformed
Almighty, eternal God, long ago You severely punished an unbelieving and unrepentant world in holy judgment by sending a flood. But in Your great mercy, You saved and protected believing Noah and his family. You also drowned the obstinate Pharaoh and his whole army in the Red Sea, and You brought Your people Israel through the sea on dry ground. In these acts, You revealed the meaning of baptism and the mercies of Your covenant in saving Your people, who of themselves deserved Your condemnation. We therefore pray that in Your infinite mercy, You will graciously look upon this, Your child, and bring him/her into union with Your Son, Jesus Christ, through Your Holy Spirit. May he/she be buried with Christ into death and be raised with Him to walk in newness of life. We pray that he/she may follow Christ day by day, may joyfully bear his/her cross, and may cling to Him in true faith, firm hope, and ardent love.[2]
Lutheran
Almighty and most merciful God and Father, we thank and praise You that You graciously preserve and enlarge Your family and have granted name(s) the new birth in Holy Baptism and made him/her/them a member/members of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and an heir/heirs of Your heavenly kingdom. We humbly implore You that, as he/she/they has/have now become Your child/children, You would keep him/her/them in his/her/their baptismal grace, that according to Your good pleasure he/she/they may faithfully grow to lead a godly life to the praise and honor of Your holy name and finally, with all Your saints, obtain the promised inheritance in heaven; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.[3]
Baptist
Faithful God, in faith and hope we entrust to you this child’s future life as it stretches out before her/him. Protect her/him in moments of danger. Reassure her/him in moments of doubt. Strengthen her/him as she/he passes from childhood to youth and from youth to the life of an adult. Surround her/him with your love expressed in people who will care for her/him, and give her/him those with whom that love can be shared. And grant that when understanding comes she/he may confess you as Lord and saviour in the waters of baptism. Amen.[4]
2. Excerpt from prayer before baptism in “Baptism of Infants—Form 1,” United Reformed Churches in North America, available at https://formsandprayers.com.
3. Prayer after baptism in “Holy Baptism,” Lutheran Service Book (St. Louis, MO: Concordia, 2005).
4. Prayer after “presenting and blessing,” Gathering for Worship: Patterns and Prayers for the Community of Disciples (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2005).
