Child dedication is a church tradition.

The word “dedicate” means to set aside or commit to a sacred purpose. The dedication means committing a child to God and God’s purposes. In one sense, this is what every Christian parent wants to do, but in another sense, parents can’t actually make this decision on behalf of their children – as much as they might wish to! Each child will one day have to make his or her own personal decision about whether or not to commit himself or herself to God. Parents should guide, teach, pray for, and lead their children, but parents cannot choose a life path for their child. So even though we speak of dedicating the child to the Lord, dedication is really a matter of parents dedicating themselves, as well as their child, to the Lord by intentionally living their lives in such a way that is consistent with Biblical values and Christian virtues. With that in mind, we see two primary purposes for dedication:

1. For parents, joined by their church community, to celebrate the birth or adoption of a child, joyfully thanking God for this new addition to the family and to the church community.
2. For parents to commit themselves publicly to raise their child in the nurture and love of the Lord, and for the church to pray for them in their awesome responsibility as parents.

If we agree that dedication is primarily parents’ publicly dedicating themselves to raise their children in the nurture and love of the Lord, we’ll agree that these four things should be true of the parents:

1. They should be committed Christians. They should have reached a point of believing the Good News – that God invites them to be part of His kingdom, family and mission in this world. They have confidence that Jesus lived and died to pay for their sins and rose from death to give them a new life, that God loves them, and that they can have a growing relationship with God as a free gift of grace. They shouldn’t just be Christian in name – but rather, Christians from the heart, with a sincere personal, committed faith. (If you aren’t sure how to become a committed Christian, please speak with a pastor or staff member – any of us would be glad to help you take this important step.)
2. They should be modeling Christian values within their home and lifestyle. This means we will gladly participate in dedicating children who are living with one parent but won’t if the parent(s) involved in the dedication are unmarried but living with their partner. Additionally, we believe biblical marriage to be between a man and a woman.
3. They should be involved in the church – belonging and growing in service, community and giving.
4. They should take seriously their responsibility to raise their children with a strong spiritual foundation. They should be committed to having their children in church, and even more importantly, to making God a part of their daily lives. There are two beautiful passages that describe this type of parenting, one from the Old Testament, and one from the New Testament:‍
   
   “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” – Deuteronomy 6:5-7 CSB
   
   “Fathers, don’t stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” – Ephesians 6:4 CSB

We generally have child dedications as a part of our regular gatherings a couple times a year. You will join a group of others who are dedicating their child and to walk on to the stage. One of our pastors will introduce you and your child. After that, he will pray a prayer of dedication over your child and yourselves.