Child dedication is an opportunity for parents to declare their desire to raise their child to know, follow, and love Jesus and invite their community to be part of this discipling journey.
WHAT IS CHILD DEDICATION?
Child dedication is an opportunity for parents to publicly declare their desire to raise their child to know, follow in the ways of, and love Jesus. Finally, it is an invitation to their community to pray for their child and family.
WHEN DO CHILD DEDICATIONS TAKE PLACE?
Child dedication takes place during the Sunday service. We plan the dedication at least one month in advance.
WHERE DOES THE CHILD DEDICATION TAKE PLACE?
Child dedications take place at the site where the family attends (WMB Waterloo Sanctuary or WMB Kitchener Sanctuary).
WHAT YOU EXPECT AT THE CHILD DEDICATION?
Be led in making a public commitment to God as you release your child into His care and seek to raise your child to walk with Him.
Hear your family, friends, and church make a commitment to supporting you and your child in this journey.
Pick a scripture passage for your child.
Celebrate together.
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT CHILD DEDICATION?
Deuteronomy 6:5-9
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Isaiah 59:21
“As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants—from this time on and forever,” says the Lord.
I Samuel 1:26-28
and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.
Luke 2:22
When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord
Proverbs 22:6
Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.
WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF CHILD DEDICATION?
There is strong evidence of the early-church practicing “believer’s baptism”. Many early Church fathers were not baptized until adulthood while being raised by parents who followed Jesus (ex. Basil of Caesarea [330–379], Gregory of Nyssa [335–395], Jerome [347–420], and Augustine [354–430]). While the practice of believers baptism has been a practice throughout many points in Church history, child dedication has its roots in the early Anabaptist movement. It gave parents an opportunity for commitment as they raise their children while holding to a Biblical view of baptism.
Child Dedication with the Dekoning Family
Below is an example of Child Dedication at WMB!