This normally takes place during the first part of one of the morning services before the children and young people leave for their groups. The parents, family and friends sit in the front centre pews.
In this act of thanksgiving and dedication we do three things:
- say thank you to God for the gift of your child
- make promises
- as parents, dedicating yourselves to the task of parenthood and to sharing the Christian faith with your child
- as a church, to support and encourage parents in this
- pray God’s blessing upon your child and his/her future.
After the opening song and prayer the Pastor will introduce the act of dedication from the platform and then invite the family to join him and go through the following responses:
Pastor | Do you thank God for the gift of your child, and do you accept the joys and duties of parenthood, promising to give love and care to ……………………..? |
Parents | We do. |
Pastor | Do you promise to bring up ………………………….. within the Christian community and to share your faith with him/her? |
Parents | We do. |
Pastor | Do you promise to offer to ……………………………. and his/her parents your love and care and to join with them in sharing our Christian faith? |
Congregation | We do. |
Pastor | (taking the child into his arms) |
…………………………………….., we welcome you in the name of the Lord. May the Lord bless you and take care of you. May the Lord be kind and gracious to you. May the Lord look on you with favour and give you peace. Amen. |
Handing the child back to his/her parents, the Pastor will offer a prayer, after which we will sing a song chosen by the parents.
Jesus took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me”.
(Mark 9:36-37)