Baby & Child Dedications

During the dedication ceremony, parents express vows before God, declaring their desire to raise their child in a God-honoring way. Because parents are the key role models for their children, they play a primary role in the dedication service.

Currently, child dedications are being held in private and not during services. Connect with a pastor at your Willow location to learn more.

Parents will be asked to commit to the following:

• Do you receive this child with gratitude, as God’s gift to you and your family?
• Do you commit to each other as parents, creating a stable environment in which your child can mature? Will you make a covenant to strengthen your marriage relationship?
• Do you commit to be parents of personal faith, recognizing your children are more likely to follow God’s path by the model they first observe in you?
• Do you commit to lead a faith-filled home that honors God in all your relationships and in the choices you make in spiritually growing your family?
• Do you commit to be parents with patience, recognizing that with your inherent strengths and weaknesses, your desire to shape your child is a loving act that will require time, prayer, and God in order to produce in your children what He and you hope for?

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.

Rather than baptizing infants or children, Willow encourages Christian parents to dedicate their children. This is a ceremony in which parents formally call upon God’s blessing for their child and committing to raise him or her in accordance with Scripture.

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. Willow Creek 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, Willow Creek has determined that the individual person must be able to articulate their maturity of understanding of what a believer is, including understanding forgiveness of their sins and acceptance of Jesus as their Lord and Savior. 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.

While Willow does not have a set age requirement for child dedication, the average age for a child to be dedicated is four to eight months old, although many parents dedicate children much older than that, often for the following reasons:

• The parent(s) are new believers in Christ and their children were not dedicated when they were infants.
• The parent(s) are having a younger child dedicated and want to have their older child dedicated at the same time.

Yes! Child dedication signifies the commitment of parents (including single parents) to do their best to raise their child to be a follower of Christ. Additionally, we highly encourage single parents to dedicate their child as they commit themselves to raise him or her without the presence or partnership of a spouse. The decision to dedicate a child is not dependent upon the beliefs of the ex-spouse; however we encourage single parents to discuss child dedication with their ex-spouse. Ideally, both parents—even if not married—would still commit to the dedication of their child to God. We acknowledge that this is often not possible, and that it takes extra effort for a single parent to raise a child. As a church, Willow is committed to supporting single parents in providing a Christian foundation for their child’s upbringing.

Although the term “godparent” is not used at Willow, we do welcome parents to invite friends and family members committed to supporting them to stand with them during the dedication. The presence of these significant adults symbolizes their commitment to play a supportive role in the child’s spiritual development.