what are godparents

Godparents are individuals chosen by parents to take an interest in a childs upbringing and personal development, to offer mentorship or claim legal guardianship of the child if anything should happen to the parents. In denominations of Christianity, a godparent is someone who bears witness to a childs baptism and later is willing to help in their catechesis, as well as their lifelong spiritual formation. The role of godparents, traditionally, is to help the christened person understand and live out their faith and religious responsibilities. However, the role of godparents doesn’t necessarily have to revolve around religion. In both religious and civil views, a godparent tends to be an individual chosen by the parents to take an interest in the childs upbringing and personal development. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother. The child is a godchild (i.e., godson for boys and goddaughter for girls). The role of a godparent involves giving time to the godchild to talk about the bigger questions of life, modeling and encouraging them to develop Christian values, praying for them through the ups and downs of their life and their faith journey, and helping them to learn more about the Christian faith, through their church and in other ways.