Understanding Child Dedication

Introduction

Although our church community recognizes the validity of infant baptism, our own practice is that of child dedication.

It has been a traditional practice in the church for Christian parents to dedicate their children to God. One memorable example of this goes as far back as the dedication of Samuel into the priestly service of the Temple by his mother Hannah in the Old Testament. (Samuel 1)

When a family brings a child to be dedicated to God, they are declaring that they will endeavor to raise their child to love God with all their heart, mind and strength. They are also placing their child into God’s hands for his protection and blessing. The community also participates in this by verbally affirming the families in their dedication because as we well know, it takes a whole community to raise a child, providing them with the richness
of a loving and nurturing environment.

Pre-requisites

At least one of the two parents must be a member of F3C or belong to the F3C community and affirm that they are a Christian who holds to the conviction that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Saviour.

Consent is given by the pastors of F3C for this ceremony.

Parents must be willing to covenant to commit themselves to raising their child in the love and knowledge of God and faith in Christ with the help of the Holy Spirit.