Basic Guidelines for FSBC Phoenix
8-10-2009
What is a baby dedication?
1. It is not a christening.
2. It is a time to ask God’s blessings upon an infant.
3. It is a time to ask for God’s protection for an infant.
4. It is a time to thank God for the gift of life.
5. It is a time to thank God for the miracle of birth.
Let’s talk reality.
1. THE #1 WAY that God will fulfill this prayer is through the parents.
2. The child will learn more about the Lord and about life from
parents than any other person.
3. The desire of the child in the future to be a practicing Christ-
follower will be mostly influenced by parents.
4. If the parent(s) are not dedicating themselves to the Lord, then
the dedication is nothing more than a “warm fuzzy” moment.
5. Therefore, a baby dedication is really a parent dedication as well.
What does this mean about who may participate?
1. The parent must be a committed follower of Jesus Christ.
a. They must have made a salvation decision.
b. They must have been baptized by immersion, symbolic of their
faith in Christ.
c. They must be a member of this church.
d. They must have an established pattern of being active and
regularly attending worship and a small group Bible study.
2. If the family is here as a guest, they must be a member (or
equivalent) of a local church in their home town.
3. The pastor, in consultation with the ministerial staff, makes the
final decision about who may participate.
What happens in a “baby dedication” service?
1. The service is pre-scheduled and publicized.
2. A picture of each infant will be obtained in advance and will be
shown in the service.
3. Multiple parents and their infants will probably be involved.
4. We will publicly ask the parent(s) to make the following
commitments . . .
a. Will you raise your child in the fear and admonition of the Lord?
b. Will you raise them “in the way they should go”
c. Will you raise them to know God, discover Christ (when they
are old enough to understand their need), and walk in the
Spirit?
5. The pastor will pray over the children and the parents.
When will “baby dedication” services be scheduled?
1. Generally there will be two services each year. They will be
scheduled for the last Sunday in April and the last Sunday in
October.
no later than two weeks in advance of the scheduled service,
turn in pictures, and in effect be “screened” by the ministerial
staff to make sure it is appropriate for them to participate.
