CHILD DEDICATION

Child Dedication offers families an opportunity to join with New Life to leverage the best of our combined resources and energy to build strong families and raise Godly children. It is this focus that leads us to Parent and Child Dedication, rather than just baby dedication.

​This memorable service offers you an opportunity as a parent to commit with other parents to raising Christ-centered, others-oriented children. It also gives you the opportunity to have a pastor pray for God’s blessings on your child and your family.
Dedication is a celebration that recognizes your child is a gift from God and makes public the church’s commitment to your family and your family’s commitment to the church. It is not a ceremony that brings salvation to your child nor is it a substitute for believers baptism.

We invite all families with children ages 0 – 5 years to participate in the dedication. Child dedications are scheduled periodically throughout the year. The next one is May 18 during the second and third services.

If you would like to dedicate your child to God please fill out the form below.
                                                                                                                                               *for answers about baby baptism scroll down

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​* Baby baptism
Scripture provides evidence that Baptism follows an individual’s decision to trust Christ alone for salvation (Acts 2:41, 8:12, and 10:47–48). And the New Testament records the baptisms of adult believers only.
      In the Bible, we find parents bringing their children to Jesus. He held them, prayed for them, and told us to welcome them. But He did not baptize them and He did not tell anyone else to baptize them. New Life believes Baptism is for those who have made a personal decision to trust Christ alone for their salvation, once they have the maturity and ability to understand what that means. As a general rule, New Life Elders have determined that a believer must be at least 12 years old to be baptized.
      Dedication is not a sacrament; nor does it impart grace or salvation to a child. Salvation comes only through faith in Jesus Christ as each person recognizes their sinfulness and receives forgiveness and eternal life through Christ and His work on the cross.​
Rather than baptizing infants or children, New Life encourages Christian parents to dedicate their children. This is a ceremony in which parents formally call upon God’s blessing for their child and publicly commit to raise him or her in accordance with Scripture.The biblical basis for dedicating a child is found in 1 Samuel 1:27-28), where a godly woman named Hannah prayed year after year for God to give her a child. He answered her prayers and she gave birth to a son, whom she named Samuel. When Samuel was born, Hannah prayed these words: “ I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord.  For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.”
      At New Life Church, child dedications are a time for parents, like Hannah, to commit themselves to raising their child God’s way. They are a joint expression of a parent’s desire to raise Godly children and our commitment as a church to empowering parents in that calling.
      Child dedications are a powerful time for parents to embrace the responsibility they’ve been given by God and to catch a vision of the impact they can make in their child’s life. We make these events special by encouraging the whole family to get involved, having some fun, offering family pictures, and occasionally making a dad cry. We want this to be an event parents will always remember.
      Child dedications also provide us with an opportunity to express our commitment as a church to helping families raise God-honoring kids. And we count it an honor to be entrusted with that incredible privilege.