Dedicating your child to God
Dedicating our children to God is something that we love to do here at TVC Church. Its a special event, that carries lots of meaning and significance for us as a church family.
Dedications are carried out as part of our normal Sunday morning service. Our aim in gathering together is to worship God and so a dedication is seen as part of that worship – giving God what He is worth.
It provides parents with an opportunity to:
It also gives the church the opportunity to dedicate themselves to supporting both child and parents in their journey with God.
One of the elders will introduce the parents and the child and will explain to everyone the reason and thinking behind the act of dedicating children to God.
The parents then have an opportunity to speak briefly about their gratitude to God for the gift of their child. Just a few sentences is generally enough. We don’t require a formal speech or address!
The elder will then ask the parents to respond to two questions:
Believing that (name of child) is a gift from God, do you promise to bring him/her up according to God’s ways?
Will you do all you can to show him/her what God’s love and kingdom is like and lead him/her into his/her own relationship with Jesus Christ?
The parents will answer that they agree to these commitments. The elder will then ask the church to respond to this question:
Do you promise to do all you can to show (name of child) the love of God and to support and encourage the family to guide him/her towards his/her own rela’onship with Jesus Christ?
The church will respond that they do agree to this commitment.
Finally the elder or his wife will pray for the child and bless him/her in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Here at TVC Church we do not normally conduct Christenings. Visitors may view christening either as a form of infant baptism or simply as a naming ceremony for the child. Neither of these are the same as our dedication ceremony.
We believe that baptism is only for those who have discovered a real relationship of faith and trust in Jesus. “Repent and be baptised” (Acts 2:38). It is an outward expression of an internal experience. It is therefore reserved for those who understand and can fully commit to a decision to follow Jesus.
Normally we only make this available for members or regular attenders of TVC Church, although there may be exceptions to this. Both parents should normally be active believers in Jesus in order to give integrity to the promises you will be making.
If you and your husband/wife agree that you would like to dedicate your child to God, we would like to have a conversation with you. We want to explain what we believe these special vows mean for you, your personal walk with Christ and your approaches to raising your children.
If you would like to bring your child to be dedicated, please fill in the form below and one of the pastoral team will be touch in the next week.