When dedicating your baby, you celebrate a commitment to raise your child in the ways of the Lord. You also commit to joining a community of believers who help you and hold you accountable.
Please contact the church office if you would like your baby dedicated.
At the Base Church we acknowledge the crucial role of parenting, and whilst becoming a parent can be the most incredible life-changing experience, there are also times that can be very difficult to navigate.
Husband and Wife
We believe that the biggest overall influence you as parents can have on the life of your child will be in your roles as husband and wife. We believe that by God’s design, the husband-wife relationship is the primary family relationship from which all others flow. We see children as welcome members of the family, and not its centre. Children do not complete the family; they expand it, and we cannot stress enough the importance of growing your husband-wife relationship and keeping this central in your home. Every marriage has good times and more trying times. We invite you to constantly examine your marriage relationship and draw on the church community and resources to be constantly growing stronger.
Father and Mother
We recognise the unique roles that mothers, and fathers play, and we desire to encourage and equip you as you grow into these God ordained roles. We acknowledge that many families are Single parent families, and we embrace our single parent families, as a community of believers.
Family Discipleship
We believe that parents are called to play the key role in discipling their children, which is why, although we have a thriving children’s ministry, we constantly state that is to be considered as supplemental to and never in place of, the Biblical discipleship that you as parents lead in your home. We encourage you to pray and read the word as a family, and to become actively involved in the life of the church. This may look different in the different seasons of family life! Therefore, we encourage you to become involved in the church community and glean from other families who may be ahead of you in the parenting journey!
What is baby dedication?
Baby dedication is not a statement of salvation for your child, but rather a statement of how you will raise your child. While not a command of Scripture, baby dedication can be a beautiful symbol - like a wedding band. It should be done with a community of believers who know you personally and can commit to walking with you in this commitment. This is why we, at The Base Church, include baby dedications in our regular Sunday meetings. As you acknowledge your responsibility to raise your child in a Gospel centred home taking an active role in your child's discipleship, we as your church family, are making a similar commitment to you, to come along side of you and help you in this discipleship journey.
The word "dedication" means "to consecrate" or the act of setting apart people or things to serve God. Two examples in the Bible are found in 1 Samuel 1: 11 and 28, and Luke 2:22.
In the Old Testament, we see how Hannah prayed for a child and promised God that the child, Samuel, would be given to the Lord all the days of his life (1 Samuel 1:11, 28). In the New Testament, we see how Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the temple to "present" Him to the Lord (Luke 2:22).
These parents took this act very seriously and were making a commitment in presenting their children to the Lord. Bringing a child before the Lord is not a secret formula for keeping them from ever experiencing harm or pain, or a way to fast track them to salvation! Rather, it is a commitment that the parents make to do their part in raising their child before the Lord.
We believe salvation is the free gift of God, received when someone grasps his or her need for Christ and makes the conscious decision to repent and enter into a relationship with God. Once a child is old enough to choose to accept Christ as his or her personal Saviour, then he or she can make a choice to be baptized. For this reason, we do not baptise infants.
What commitment am I making?
As you present your child to God, you are acknowledging that your child belongs to God and has been born to experience His love and to serve Him. You are committing, as Christian parents, to teach the truths of God's Word in your home and participate in regular worship and discipleship with your children. You are also committing to be a Christ-like example and seek to lead your children to a personal faith in Christ as soon as they are ready. Please read the following scriptures.
Here are some Scripture references we encourage you to study
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates. DEUTERONOMY 6:5-9
Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children—how on the day that you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, “Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.” DEUTERONOMY 4:9-10
One generation shall commend your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts. On the glorious splendour of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness. They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness. PSALM 145:4-10
My son keep your father’s commandment, and forsake not your mother’s teaching. Bind them on your heart always; tie them around your neck. When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you. For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life. PROVERBS 6:20-23
Fathers do not provoke your children to anger but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. EPHESIANS 6:4
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. 2 CORINTHIANS 5:20
AS GOD HAS ENTRUSTED ME WITH HIS SONS I PRAY THAT GOD ;
GIVES MY SON A HEART FOR YOU.
As he grows to discover himself and everything around him, I pray that he searches the truth about you. My son at the moment is always asking questions, one day he came to me and he asked me “Mom who made God, I looked at him and I was like Lord help me, because my answer might not make sense to the little boy, so I said to him why don't you ask him and he was like ok, so I was like ok too with my eyes open. A week later, he tells his dad he had a dream and God visited him in his room, and he asked God who made you, and God answered him and he said,” I made myself “, and he didn’t even question God that it didn’t make sense for his little brain to fathom, he understood very well, because it allowed him to know the truth in his heart. I continue to pray that God continues to reveal himself to him and that he has a heart for God. Lord let your son desire you alone Father I pray Psalm 27 :4 One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his temple.
MAKES A MAN OF CHARACTER
As little boys grow older they learn new habits like for example lying that they are in the kitchen, just looking around whilst they are digging their little fingers in a chocolate cake, and they come back to the dining with chocolate smudged on their face and have no idea its there , and when you ask, they say, “was just looking at the walls in the kitchen”, you just want to laugh because it’s so funny but you have to hold yourself and make them aware that lying is a bad thing . There is so much I can’t control what he is at this age, but I know I can always go to my father in heaven with my request, to mould his little character and I can submit my worries to the Lord. And I stand on your promise that you will complete the good work that you have started in my son. May you also make him be kind, generous and unselfish. Father, I pray Ezekiel 36:26 Give him a new heart and a new spirit. Remove the heart of stone from his flesh and give him a heart of flesh
MAKES GUIDES HIM TO MAKE GOOD FRIENDS
Provide friends that will build him up, encourage him, and have a positive influence on his life. Help him to see you in his daily life as he grows to adulthood, and may you guide him in making decisions about his friends. May he also show Christ to his friends through what they see in him and that hi heart with be protected. Father, I pray Proverbs 4 v 23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
MAKES HIM MAKE GOOD CHOICE
As he grows and learns that certain choices may lead to consequences that are not so good, may you give him the courage to choose paths that will lead to long life. Father, I pray Proverbs 4 v 20-22 My son pay attention to what I say ; turn your ear to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart, for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body
The list is endless, and for now, we end here… May we pray for our Sons to make them what God intended them to be.. A man after God's heart
Recently I was chatting with parents of four adult daughters and at separate times the dad and then when the mom expressed what a blessing their lovely girls have been and continue to be. As a mom, myself of three much younger daughters I have my hands rather full at this stage but daily am blessed by my precious little girls. When I asked my husband about our daughters, he said that he loves the way they are eager to please those around them. I am so touched by their thoughtful gifts of flowers, leaves, stones or hand-drawn pictures, their willingness to help and their readiness to laugh and play. So often a few moments of laughter together are delightful and refreshing to us all.
So how do we pray for these amazing treasures that God has so beautifully created and given us the responsibility of nurturing? Here are a few scriptures that hopefully will help get you started on this journey of prayer for your daughter. I am very much learning too but have been so blessed by the prayers my parents have prayed for me over the years and would love to do give the same to my daughters.
Psalm 136: 1
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever.
Prayer - “Thank you Lord for my precious daughter, thank you that in her I see your goodness day by day.”
Luke 18: 16
But Jesus called the children to Him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”
Prayer – “Lord Jesus, may my daughter always know that she can come to You, that You will welcome her with open arms. May she know Your presence all the days of her life.”
1 Peter 3: 3 – 5
Your beauty should not come from outward adornments, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewellery and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.
Prayer – “Lord Jesus, help me to be an example to my daughter. May she learn to value inner beauty, qualities that last such as faith, hope, love, kindness, gentleness, joy and peace.
Zephaniah 3: 17
The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save, He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.
Prayer – “Thank you Lord for my precious daughter, thank you that you take great delight in her. May she choose to walk with You, to live the life you have called her to. May she rest in Your love.
100 Enterprise Road, Highlands, Harare.
Sundays 9:30 – 11:00am
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