Child Dedication Guide
A Note For Leaders: Preparing for a Child Dedication
The following Guide has been written to help a Bridgetown Community host, bless, and celebrate the life of a child, and the parents’ commitment to raise this child in the way of Jesus. A Child Dedication is most common for a family welcoming a new child in the last year or so, but feel free to adapt it however is appropriate for your situation.
Help the parents prepare.
Share this Guide with the family ahead of time, inviting the parents to prayerfully prepare and read through the commitments they will be asked to make. Create space for them to ask any questions they may have.
Ask the parents to complete this worksheet ahead of time and bring it with them. At the start of the gathering, they will have an opportunity to introduce their child to the group and share about their hopes and dreams for their life. Before making the formal commitment, they will also have the option to share a brief letter, poem, or song for their child.
Parents are welcome—and encouraged—to invite guests. While guests do not have to be followers of Jesus, it may be a good idea for the parents to make sure they know that this celebration is centered on the way of Jesus.
Work together to pick a time and place for this celebration. It could be your Community night, a Sunday afternoon at a park, or a Saturday morning in the family’s home.
It’s to be expected that babies or young children will be restless or have needs arise during a 30 minute guide. The child does not have to be present the whole time, but be sure they are, at minimum, present for the Dedication of the Child and Blessing Liturgy.
Invite the Community to pray in advance. During the Blessing section, your Community will have a chance to share what they sense the Spirit is speaking over the family. Make sure the Community knows about this invitation the week before the Child Dedication, so that they can be praying and listening throughout the week.
Plan to celebrate! While Child Dedication is a serious moment of commitment for parents, remember that the mood of the event should be celebratory! It should feel almost like a wedding reception. You are celebrating the love parents have for their child and blessing the child’s future. Be sure to enlist someone in your Community ahead of time to prepare something celebratory for the family, like cupcakes, a toast, or a special meal together.
Consider a keepsake. To help parents return to and reflect on the words and blessings spoken over them and their child, consider putting together some sort of a keepsake. Enlist someone from your Community to prepare something tangible the family can take home. We’ve listed some ideas at the end of the Guide.
Prepare yourself. The following Guide is written in a way that it can be read word-for-word during the dedication. Make sure that you’ve read through it a few times and familiarized yourself with its contents. And since there are parts others need to read, make sure you have the link handy to share with everyone participating.
Read This Overview (2 minutes)
A Child Dedication is a moment to honor and celebrate new life in our Bridgetown Community. In doing this practice, we thank God for the children among us, affirm their value as God’s image bearers, and welcome them into our family. Today, we’re gathered here to celebrate the new life of [Child’s Name].
We will journey through four movements together: Welcome,Commitments & Dedication, Blessing, and Celebration. First, we’ll start by welcoming the child, and give the parents an opportunity to share about them. Next, both the parents and our Bridgetown Community will make commitments towards the care, support, and discipleship of this child. Then, we will read a short blessing over the family and share what we sensed as we prayed for them over this last week. Lastly, but certainly not least, our time together will culminate with a big celebration as a way to mark this moment in the life of our Community and honor this child’s presence among us.
Welcome (5 minutes)
To begin, let’s welcome [Child’s name]. [Parents’ names] have been invited to share with us about their child—their love for them, what they want to celebrate about them, and their hopes, dreams, and prayers for this child.
Leader note: Invite the parents to share from their worksheet.
[Parents’ names], thank you. We are honored to walk alongside you, pray with you for these things, and be witnesses to Jesus’ work in you and in your family.
Commitments & Dedication (10 minutes)
While the primary aim of this gathering is the blessing and dedication of [Child’s Name], Child Dedication is also a moment for parents to commit—in the presence of Community—to the ongoing work of discipleship in their home, namely by raising their kids in the way of Jesus. As they do, [Parent’s Names] are establishing their parenting in the wisdom of the book of Proverbs: “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it” (22v6).
After the parents make these commitments, we, as a Community, will commit to partner in helping them with this task. Once these commitments are made, the parents will dedicate the child.
Commitment of the Parents
Leader: [Parent’s Names], do you affirm [Child’s Name] as an image bearer of God and receive [him/her] as a gift from God?
Parents: We do.
Leader: Do you freely desire to dedicate [Child’s Name] to God, in the presence of these people, in thankfulness, humility, and love?
Parents: We do.
Leader: Do you commit to provide for [his/her] physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs to the best of your ability, and by doing so modeling the sacrificial love of Jesus towards [him/her]?
Parents: We do.
Leader: Do you commit to raise [Child’s name] in the way of Jesus, to model the practices of Jesus in your home, to surround [him/her] with Christian community, to pray for [him/her], and to pursue [his/her] transformation into Christlikeness above all else?
Parents: We do.
Leader: Do you commit to order your family—your time, your commitments, your relationships, your finances, and your values—around the way of Jesus, in all things yielding to the authority of the Father and listening to the Spirit as you parent, and in doing so maintain rich spiritual soil for [Child’s name] to grow an authentic and resilient faith in Jesus?
Parents: We do.
Commitment of the Community
As the Community that surrounds this beloved family, we are now invited to make the following commitments to them, as brothers and sisters. After I read each commitment, if you agree, say “we do.”
Leader: Do you commit to pray for, encourage, and support [Parents’ names] as they seek to lead their family in the way of Jesus?
Community: We do.
Leader: Do you commit to doing life with this family, taking communion with them, serving one another, sharing resources as needed, pursuing unity, and practicing the way of Jesus? And, as you do, modeling mature, Christian community to [Child’s Name] as they grow?
Community: We do.
Leader: Do you commit, as brothers and sisters, to continually and lovingly welcome [Child's name] into the family of God and affirm their significance in the Kingdom of God, so that they never doubt their belonging amongst His people?
Community: We do.
Dedication of the Child
Leader note: if the parents have chosen to bring a letter, poem, or song, invite them to share that now.
Now, [Parent’s names] will read the dedication over their child.
Child’s Parents: We, your parents, in the presence of community, dedicate you, [Child’s Name], to God. We surrender all of our worldly control, personal dreams, and exclusive claims on your life for the greater hope that you might know the fullness of God’s love for you, be united with God in Christ, and one day see Him face to face and reign with Him forever.
Blessing
To honor these commitments, let us bless and commission them in this good work. Let us also bless the child, as an image bearer and as our [brother/sister] in God’s family.
Blessing Liturgy
Leader or other Community Member: [Parents’ Names], be blessed with the knowledge that the Creator of all will go before you and your children all the days of your life and theirs. And be blessed with an ever-increasing awareness of God’s presence as you nurture His beloved one, trusting that He who is beginning a good work in them, will carry it to completion.
We bless you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Leader or other Community Member: [Child’s Name], you are fearfully and wonderfully made by the Creator of all. Since the beginning of time, you have been known by Him. He is familiar with who you are and who you are becoming. May you grow to love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. May his presence go with you all the days of your life.
We bless you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Blessing Prayer
This week, we were invited to pray on our own and listen to the Holy Spirit on behalf of this family. Let’s take a few minutes to share any sense we have of what God may be speaking. After a few of us share, we’ll lay hands on the family and I’ll close in prayer.
Celebration
To end, let’s celebrate the commitments made today and rejoice in the gift of new life in our Community!
A Note on Keepsakes
To help parents return to and reflect on the words and blessings spoken over them and their child, consider putting together some sort of a keepsake. Enlist someone from your Community to prepare something tangible the family can take home. We’ve listed some ideas below, but feel free to use your creativity and knowledge of this family to guide your keepsake choice! This is not meant to be an exhaustive list but rather a few ideas to inspire you.
Memory book with parents worksheet answers or blessings from community written down
Something with the child’s name or a written blessing (think something from Etsy!)
A family Bible, prayer book, or storybook (i.e. Every Moment Holy, To Light the Space Between Us, The Forgotten King)
Something framed for their home (like a hand written verse—selected by the parents—with the child’s name, dedication date)