A Parent-Child Dedication Service is a time where a family covenants with God and their local church as partners to help them as they dedicate themselves to raising the child in a Christ-centered home. The parent humbly seeks God’s wisdom and help while recognizing the grace and strength available in Christ for the challenging task of raising a child to love and serve Christ and His body. Further, the parent commits to model the life of a Christ-follower before the child. In this service, the family covenants with God to keep Christ as the centerpiece of the home, to living with Christlike character, convictions, and conduct, and to allow those in the body of Christ to help in this task.
For the church, a Parent-Child Dedication Service is a time where the church body covenants with the family accepting the responsibility to come alongside the family in their efforts to raise the child in a Christ-centered home. The church commits to providing wisdom as necessary as they walk the journey of parenting together with this family. Not only does the church commit to praying for this family, the church promises the family to do whatever they can to provide the support necessary to assist the family as they seek to honor God with their child.
Parent-Child Dedication in the Bible
As you search the Scriptures, Samuel’s mom Hannah presents a great model for this service. When God granted her request to have a child, she explained to Eli, “‘For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him. Therefore I also have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the Lord.’ So they worshiped the Lord there” (1 Samuel 1:27-28).
She asked God to give her and Elkanah a child. When God answered her prayer, she dedicated herself and her child to the Lord. She and Elkanah raised their son with God as the centerpiece of their lives.
Essentially, they recognized the challenge given to parents in Deuteronomy:
And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)
Deuteronomy teaches that parents teach the Word of God to their children continually. Family life in the God-fearing, Christ-centered home should center around Jesus Christ and His church. One of the key features of a Christian home is the awesome respect and trust of God (fear of God). In this, the family seeks to honor God in everything. The family seeks to teach the Word of God and live the Word of God as those who love and serve Christ.
Children Are a Heritage from the Lord
As the psalmist so appropriately wrote, “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward” (Psalm 127:3).
As gifts from God, the family covenants with the church to…
- Recognize every child as a gift from God and it is an honor to be entrusted by God with every child;
- Commit as family and followers of Christ to live for Jesus Christ and for the glory of God in parenting and in every other way;
- Surrender all claims upon the child’s life in the hope that the child will wholly belong to Jesus Christ;
- Understand the time of parenthood is temporary and needs God’s blessings throughout the endeavor;
- Pledge to bring up the child in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, making every effort, with faithfulness, patience and love, to build the Word of God, the character of Christ, and the joy of the Lord into their lives;
- Promise to provide, through God’s blessings, for the physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual needs of the child, looking to our own heavenly Father for the wisdom, love, and strength to serve the child;
- Trust that by God’s grace the child will come to trust in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of his or her sins and in this faith follow Jesus as Lord and obey His teachings.[1]
May God Bless Our Efforts
As families and followers of Christ, may God bless our efforts to love Him well and serve our children well as He blesses us with them for the glory of God.
Image Credit Priscilla Du Preez
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