During our Sunday Service on September 22, 2024, we’ll have a child dedication. If you’d like to dedicate your child, please fill out this INTEREST FORM by Tuesday, September 17th.
In a child dedication, we believe the parents are fulfilling their command from Proverbs 22:6 to “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” We could describe the idea of “to train” as dedicating them. For example, we see the same term used elsewhere in Scripture of dedicating houses to the Lord and for his glory (Deuteronomy 20:5). In a child dedication, the parents, as members of the church, are resolving before their fellow members to try to fulfill this obligation to the young child they have been given stewardship over, and as fellow members of the church we are also promising to do our best to look over their souls along with their parents. Like our membership covenant, we want to say only what Scripture says. Therefore, our child dedication is simple we stand with the child and parents before the Lord and say:
Do you promise to recognize your children as gifts of God and give heartfelt thanks for God’s blessing?
Do you dedicate your children to the Lord who gave them to you, surrendering all worldly claims upon their lives in the hope that they will belong wholly to Jesus?
Do you promise, with God’s fatherly help, to bring up your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, making every reasonable effort, with patience and love, to build the Word of God, the character of Christ and the joy of the Lord into their lives?
Do you promise to provide, through God’s blessing, for the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual needs of your children, looking to your own heavenly Father for the wisdom, love and strength to serve them and not use them?
Do you promise to rely on God’s help to make it your regular prayer that by God’s grace your children will come to trust in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins and for the fulfillment of all his promises to them, even eternal life; and in this faith follow Jesus as Lord and obey his teachings?
If you would like to have your child dedicated on September 22nd, please fill out THIS INTEREST FORM.