What is a Baby Dedication Service?

Welcoming the new addition

Anticipation and excitement fill the air in the days prior to and following a baby’s birth. He/she is the recipient of lavish love and attention and the parents begin to realize the wonderful yet daunting role that they will play in shaping and modeling the young life that has been entrusted to them. As parents your lives are forever changed for the next eighteen or twenty years as you and your child begin an unknown journey through life.

Baby Dedication Service

Families may choose to present their child to God to ask His special blessing and guidance for their children. Baptisms, confirmation services, christenings are all religious ceremonies that mark a spiritual hallmark in the life of a child. Many Christian families elect to have a Baby Dedication service to dedicate and “give back ” or present their child back to God. Parents recognize the great responsibilities associated with parenthood and as Christians they endeavor to raise their child in the instruction and admonition of the Lord. Proverbs 22:6 admonishes parents to” train up a child in the way it should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Parents realize that they cannot complete the daunting task of parenthood without God’s intervention and direction. That belief is the foundation of dedicating one’s baby to God to receive blessing and guidance in rearing the child. The Old Testament reference of I Samuel 1:27-28 is often cited as a reference for baby dedication. In that portion of the scriptures, Hannah, in thanksgiving and appreciation of God answering her prayer to bear a child, vowed to lend her son, Samuel, back to God as long as he lived. A New Testament reference in Luke2:21-22 describes Mary and Joseph going to Jerusalem to present Jesus to God.

Typical Service

Although baby dedication services are conducted in many churches, there is not a specific prescribed protocol to follow. However, all the services will usually have these components in common: a charge given to the parents, a charge given to the congregation and blessings asked upon the child. The specific format is left to the pastor or minister and parents to decide. A typical baby dedication service may include a special service within the usual worship service. In other churches, the baby dedication service may be held separately from the traditional worship service. Friends and families are in attendance to lend support and love to the family and child. Often, the family and friends are invited to come to the altar to surround the parents and child being dedicated. The clergy member may deliver a short message outlining and describing the responsibilities of parenthood. The charge given to the parents involves the parents being reminded of the solemn and serious responsibility that faces them as parents and they are encouraged to see that the child is taught Christian values and principles through home instruction as well as church attendance to ministries such as Sunday School, and age appropriate church activities throughout their young life into adulthood.

Another charge is often issued to the congregation and relatives. There is no legal binding tie in this charge but it is meant to encourage the members to pledge their support to the parents in doing all they can to assist in the spiritual development of their child. As witnesses to the dedication service, the church members and family members symbolically pledge to offer guidance to the child and agree to be a resource to the parents in teaching the child spiritual values and principles be they Sunday school teacher, youth pastor , church member or relative.

The last charge is generally a prayer for the child that God would bless and keep the child throughout his growing years to learn and practice the Christian values he will be taught. The clergy member will ask that God will help the child to make proper decisions as he grows older. The ultimate prayer and desire of the parents, clergy and congregation is to see the child grow to love and receive Christ as his Saviour and to exemplify Christian principles in his daily life.

Summary
The Baby Dedication Service is both moving and solemn but it can have its lighter moments. Sometimes, the baby is unwilling to leave his mother’s arms to be placed in the arms of the clergy for the dedicatory prayer. The baby may cry out loudly or squirm or may be as docile as a lamb. There is no way to predict that aspect of the service! At the conclusion of the service, family and friends often gather for a time of celebration at a reception, special dinner or in whatever way the family chooses to celebrate. Guests will usually bring a gift for the newly dedicated baby. It is a thoughtful gesture to bring a small gift if there is an older child in the family to avoid the child feeling neglected.

When our daughter and son in law dedicated our grandchildren, on both occasions they expressed that they were humbled and grateful for the opportunity to be parents; they truly wanted to invoke God’s blessings upon their children as they presented them to Him. A Baby Dedication service is a beautiful and solemn occasion reminding parents of the responsibilities, joys and difficulties associated with nurturing children. It is the hope and prayer of each parent that the journey started during that momentous Dedication Service will end well as together they travel life’s path.