Baby Dedication | Why Should I do It?

[3 Great Reasons]
What is a Baby Dedication?
This Sunday we are going to dedicate our second child at our church. This is an exciting time for us
and there are a few reasons why we are choosing to do it. But before I dive into those reasons and
essentially explain what it is, I want to explain what it is NOT.

By dedicating our son, we are not stating that he is a believer…he’s 6 weeks old…how could he be?
This is not a baptism, which is a biblical public profession as a believer of an inward transformation by
Christ from death to life. And this is not a “guarantee into heaven” ceremony.

We are simply making a commitment before the Lord and our church family to raise our child up in
Godliness (Proverbs 22:6).

With that being said, here are 3 reasons why we should dedicate our children:

1. To recognize our children are not our own but belong to the Lord
This is a time where we are reminded that our children are actually not our own.

He created them. He has a plan for them.

And He is sovereign over their lives.

Yes, we have been chosen to be the parents (and I am SO incredibly thankful He did!), but we are not
ultimately in control of their lives. We do not own them and we cannot convince them to become
believers because we cannot change their hearts.

Child dedication serves as a good reminder that we have an important responsibility to teach our
children about God but that our children ultimately belong to the Lord. This is both humbling and
comforting.

2. To publicly profess we will raise them up in the Lord

You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you
are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise”
(Deuteronomy 11:19).
As stated briefly before, it’s our responsibility and privilege to be the primary disciple-makers in our
children’s lives.

God did not create the church to do all the teaching; He put our children in our specific homes where
they will spend the majority of their time as a youth.

The Bible and Jewish traditions indicate that it is our role as parents to teach about God. And we do
this not just with our words but in our daily living. It simply makes sense that we are the primary
disciple-makers and it should come naturally if you love the Lord with all your heart because you will
want your children to know the same joy you do.

Child dedication is our chance to announce in front of family, friends, and the church family that we
will follow Deuteronomy 6:6-7 and teach our children about God. Not only does a public profession
match with Scripture but whenever something is publicly announced, accountability comes along with
it. This leads me to the last reason.
Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go;  even when he is old he will not depart from it.
3. To ask the congregation to support and pray for us.
At our church, we actually call this process “Parent Commissioning.” We believe the child dedication
is a partnership with the church.

They equip us to be Christ-centered parents and together we rely on the Holy Spirit in the process of
parenting/discipleship of our children. We are “partners together in the gospel” because our church and
home will both aim our children to know Christ.

Our church is committed to equipping us parents to not only share/live out the gospel for our children
but to walk together with others while doing so.
As we sign up for the child dedication, we attend an “early years” parenting class for several weeks
where the families who are dedicating their children join together with our Family Pastor and his wife.

We discuss a variety of topics including our God-given role as parents to be the authority figure
representing God’s authority and making the gospel the priority over all things. It’s a great time to learn
from other parents and it opens the door for future friendships/accountability/help as we journey
through parenthood together.

I love that our church offers this class but then continues to support discipleship in the home; one way
they do this by offering resources such as these books to read.

Then, after meeting with others who are also dedicating their child and partnering with them, we stand
before the church asking them to support us in our decision and to come alongside us. We ask for
prayer. We ask them to also teach our children as time comes. And we celebrate.

It’s a beautiful picture of us working together to make disciples as Jesus commanded.

These are the reasons we’ve decided to dedicate both of our children. Again, it is NOT a baptism
because they are not professing to know Christ. They cannot repent and believe and they have not been
transformed into a new life in Christ. They are simply being dedicated to God as we the parents partner
with our church to teach our children.

We pray this will be a step you take as you raise your children to know and treasure Christ.