What is a Baby Dedication and Why do it?

At New Day Christian Church, we offer Baby & Child Dedications. On this special occasion, parents bring their children and stand before God and the church family to declare their intention to raise their child according to God’s plan.

By dedicating your child, you are not stating that he/she is a believer. Neither is this 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.

You are simply making a commitment before the Lord and our church family to raise your child up in Godliness (Proverbs 226).

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

1. To recognize that 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. God created them. God has a plan for them. And God is sovereign over their lives.

Yes, God has chosen us to be the parents (and I am SO incredibly thankful He did!), but we are not ultimately in control of our children’s lives. We do not own them and we cannot convince them to become believers. Our responsibility before the Lord is to lead them to Him.

Child dedication serves as a good reminder that we have an important responsibility to teach our children about God. 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 1119).

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.

That’s why the Bible tells us, as parents, to teach about God at home. We don’t just do this with our words but also in our daily living. We are the primary disciple-makers! This happens naturally when we love the Lord with all our hearts and share with our children the joy we have found in Christ.

Child dedication is our chance to announce in front of family, invited friends, and the New Day congregation that we will follow Deuteronomy 66-7 and teach our children about God. Being a public profession, it also brings accountability. This leads me to the last reason.

3. To ask the congregation to support and pray for us.

At New Day, we believe the child dedication is a partnership with the church.

Being a part of the church helps 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.

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

These are the reasons we offer Baby & Child Dedications at New Day. We pray this will be a step you take as you raise your children to know and treasure Christ.

One last reason to dedicate your baby:

In case you need one more reason, it’s an excuse to dress up your infant or older child. Kids always look so cute when they’re dressed in their “Sunday best.”

Make sure to take a good picture!

To sign-up to participate in our next Baby & Child Dedication Sunday, contact Trish Ciccoianni at trishc@newdaycc.net or register below