Dedication

On Sunday my wife and I had the joy, together with The Globe Church family, of dedicating our son. Since people come to our church from all sorts of different backgrounds and Christian traditions, I thought it would be helpful to share what child dedication means to us as a church and why we approach it this way.

You may have seen, or been part of churches that practice, infant baptism. We love baptism, however at Globe we baptise adults who can say for themselves that they believe in Jesus. Recently we had the joy of baptising Maria and Bethany after hearing their testimony of the work that God has done in their lives.

When a child is born into our church family, they aren’t old enough to speak words, let alone make a decision to follow Jesus, or a statement of faith. So we don’t baptise children, but we do believe that children matter to God. The way we mark a new child at Globe is through a dedication service.

Let me share three key things about why we do dedications.

First, it’s a reminder that children are a gift from God. When we have a dedication in our gatherings it’s a time to stop and thank God for the life of the child.

Secondly, as parents, and church family, it is a responsibility that we dedicate and commit ourselves to. Each child is a gift of God, but that gift comes with responsibilities – so this part of our time together comes with promises that the parents are going to be committing to, close friends are going to be committing to, and there is an invitation for our church family to commit to pointing the child to Christ through prayers and relationships with them.

Thirdly, we seek God’s blessing on this gift we’ve been given – we dedicate each child to God because we pray and invite God’s work within their life. We can’t do this alone – we’re dependent on God to help them grow, and we pray, one day for them to know Jesus themselves. This isn’t about forcing a particular path on the child, but rather creating an environment where they can discover God’s love for themselves when they’re ready. As God has entrusted children to us, so we entrust them to God.

We love the children that God has placed in our church family. A dedication service is part of our way of loving and caring for new children and their parents in our church. We get to celebrate new life together, acknowledging our shared responsibility, and trusting God with the future of the youngest members of our church family. It’s a joy to be part of.