Infant baptism is a common practice, but we do not do this at our church. We believe the Bible teaches that baptism is something that should be done after making the personal decision to follow Christ.
Here are a few verses from the Bible that support this belief: Acts 18:8 and Acts 19:4-5. Also Acts 8:12 says, "But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women." Because we do not baptize infants and wait until they understand and believe for themselves, we hold a special service to dedicate our children to God.
Child dedication is something that is important to the parents, the child, and the church (other Christians). It's where parents dedicate their child to the Lord, surrounded by family and friends that commit to help do so. This was also done in the Bible, both by Hannah with her son Samuel (I Samuel 1:27-28) and Mary with her son Jesus (Luke 2:21-38).
We do not believe that child dedication will save Callie in any way. That will come in the future as she makes her own personal decision to follow Christ.
If you have any questions or comments about this, I would love to hear them!
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2 comments:
I would love to be a part of Callie's dedication! I'm sure we'll be around, so we will definitely love to be a part of it! It's such a special day for both you and her!
I'm glad you posted about this! I've always wondered what we should do for Evan. The church we used to go to in St. Louis did baby baptism and I never wanted Evan baptised. I agree that it should be a choice each individual makes whenever they are ready! So here he is, now 3 years old, and we haven't even had him dedicated (we also haven't found a church yet in our new town). Good luck! Callie is adorable!
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