Family Dedication (July 2022)
On 31 July, we held our second family dedication of the year, committing with God and one another to come alongside the parents to raise these new children that God has so generously blessed us with.
During the Sunday service on 31 July, we held our second family dedication for the year. Pastor Mark began by highlighting to us that one of the greatest blessings that God gives to a family or to the people of God is children. In the Old Testament, children are the quintessential blessing of God; and in the New Testament, children are the objects of discipleship with the call to raise them in the training and admonition of the Lord. For this reason, we want to come alongside these parents in their raising of their children and to pray for them, as well as to give them an opportunity to share their desires to be faithful to the Lord in raising these children.
We thank God for (L-R) Lloyd and Theresa with baby Naomi, Donald and Emily with baby Daniel and his older brother Edward, and Yi Le and Sarah with baby Elsabeth.
Pastor Mark also explained that unlike baptism and the Lord's Supper, family dedication is not an ordinance. We are not baptising these children. Rather, family dedication is an opportunity for parents to dedicate these children to the Lord and commit to instruct these children in God's ways. At the same time, as a church, we are committing ourselves to encourage these families in Christ and covenant with one another to endeavour to raise the children and youth under our care in the training and instruction of the Lord, praying that we will seek to be faithful examples, reflecting back to them the grace that has changed our lives.
He then invited the parents on stage with their children, and they introduced themselves and also shared with us how we could pray for them.
This was followed by the parents making the following commitments:
We commit to wholeheartedly glorify God, to trust in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and His finished work on our behalf, and to depend on the power of His Holy Spirit.
We commit to sacrificially love each other, so that our marriages faithfully reflect the love of Christ for His Bride, the church.
We commit to love God’s church: to invest ourselves in building Christ-centred relationships in this community, so that our children can also be discipled by others in this family of faith.
We commit to raise our children with godly affection, instruction and discipline. As God has entrusted to us the responsibility for discipling them, we will endeavour, with God’s help, to teach our children about the Good News of Jesus Christ and what it means to live by faith in Him.
We are grateful for children, it is a sign of God's grace and goodness to us as a church. It is also a great challenge—a call that He has given to us and these parents, as we join Him in this good work of bringing up children. As a church, we made the following commitments to these families and the Lord:
We, as fellow members of Grace Baptist Church, commit to sacrificially love your family, and reflect the grace of Jesus Christ by sharing our lives with you.
We commit to encourage you in Christ, and to love these children that God has given you. We will endeavour to partner with you to raise these children in the faith and ways of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
We prayed for the parents that as they seek to be faithful in caring for their children's physical as well as spiritual well-being, that their walk with God will be strong and firm, that their own relationship with God will be real, that they will spend time in prayer and seek Him in His word. We also prayed that as the children grow, the parents will seek to communicate the truth about God to them and that grace will be evident in the way they discipline and teach these children, showing to them that when they sin, they need to turn to God in confession and repentance and look to the cross of Jesus as the sole way for the atonement of their sin. For the church, we prayed that we will seek to join these parents in stewarding these treasures of God, and be faithful in God's call to bring these children up in His ways.
Here at GBC, we also seek to help our parents and the church learn to disciple and parent well. Over two Saturday mornings in September—3 and 10 September from 9-11.30am, all are welcomed to attend the EQUIP series titled, "The Art of Parenting". The class will cover God's purpose for the family, corrective and formative discipline, family worship, boys and girls, and technology and social media.
Pastor Mark will be speaking at this session, and you can hear him share more about the topic here:
Childcare is available. Registration for the series is also required for all who are interested and you can do so here: http://gracebaptistchurch.sg/equip-parenting