A few times a year we hold a Family Dedication Event. Instead of calling it a baby dedication, we call it a family dedication. It’s a chance for parents to:
#1 Publicly thank God for these children
#2 To commit themselves to raising their children to follow God
#3 To ask for God’s blessings on their children
#4 To ask the church to partner with them
Family Dedications happen several times a year at our church. We hold this event on Saturdays from 4-5pm. Here’s what we do:
Dedication Service – We hold a 30 minute service where the dedication ceremony takes place. We have live music, video, & a talk from our lead pastor about parenting. This is also the time in the event where families who are participating come to the front, and make their commitment to raise their child to follow Jesus and grow in a relationship with Him. This service is family friendly. There are a lot of young children, so it’s not really a quiet event. I have preschool packages ready for children to pick up on their way in. This includes coloring pages (all about families of course), a pack of 4 crayons, stickers, goldfish and pipe cleaners to play with.
Reception – After the service, we have cake for everyone. We create an atmosphere for families to chat with their friends and family, and to get to know other families with children.
Excellence is found in the details. We want our families to feel like they have come to a first class event. Here are a few things that we include in every event:
Decorations – tablecloths & fancy decor as much as your budget will allow.
Food – we try to do a great job of this, so a 3 tier cake it is!
Frames – Each child receives a Frame that has been personalized with their name, photo, the date of the event, & the Bible verse that their parent’s chose for them.
Blessings Booklets – We hand make a Blessings Booklet for each child. Friends and family can write a prayer, poem, or special message for the child. Great keepsake.
Professional Photographer – We book someone to take photos of the event as well as family portraits. After the event, families can download these pics for free.
The following Sunday – We want the church to partner with these families as they raise their children. Because we have 4 services on a Sunday morning, we video the Dedication Event, and then show a 2-3 minute video of the families at the Dedication Event.
