Child Dedication and Infant Baptism Homework
Our at home assignments are a critical piece of the Child Dedication or Infant Baptism process here at Faith. We encourage parents to fully complete the work below for every child, even if you have been through the process before. If you are married, find a time to do the assignments with your spouse. Completing them over a cup of coffee or dessert could give you the chance to really share your thoughts about the journey ahead of you. If you are a single parent, consider working through the assignments with a close friend or an adult who will play a significant role in your child's life.
1.) Imagine the End
Deuteronomy 6:5-7 says: 5Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
The most important thing we can pass down to our children is a love and faith in their heavenly father. This starts with us and as we model what this looks like for our children.
What values are important to your family? What character traits do you hope your child embodies? What do you want to be true of your child? Picture the person you want your amazing son or daughter to become. It is hard to look beyond what is happening right now in the little years. However, it is important to be mindful of “parenting with the end in mind”.
Homework Task: We love to give families an opportunity to share with the congregation some of the prayers and dreams they have for their children. Now that the ceremony is back in the main service, we are asking that each family send: A video of you as their parent(s) introducing yourselves and your children + your faith-based aspiration for your child(ren). Think about the kinds of things that are important to you as you envision your child experiencing God throughout their lives!
Reminder: Make these videos in a quiet room and do not film with a window or bright light behind you! It's okay if these videos aren't perfect. They're sweet and simple! Email them to tricia@faithmanhattan.org.
2.) Circle of Influence
A lot of parenthood feels like you’re constantly striving to find a “new normal”. But one thing that remains constant is our need to be doing life with people. We need people who are able to come along side us and support us, celebrate us with the wins in life, be with us during the tragedies in life, and simply go through life with us. Most importantly, we need people who are going to point us and our families to Jesus.
We would love for you to consider these things:
Whose voice do I need to hear? Whose voice does my child need to hear? Think about the words and characteristics you wrote down that you'd like your child to eventually become. Are there people in your life that will foster these characteristics in your child?
As a church, we’ve done our best to hand select people whose voices we think your child should hear through our volunteers. And we hope these are voices your children WANT to hear! We think the relationships our volunteers can form with your kids have the power to change the course of their lives, especially as your child gets older. As a church, we plan to give you as many simple, easy to use tools as we can to support you in your efforts to parent with the end in mind. We want to link arms with you and be a part of your circle.
We want you to know—you don’t have to do this alone. You SHOULDN’T do his alone. Widen your circle to invite in adults who you trust and respect. Widen your circle to include us, your church family. We love you and we love your kiddos!
Homework Task: Write down some things you'd like to do to ensure you and your child have a great circle of influence around you. You might consider things like joining a life group or having other families over for meals or playdates.
Congratulations on completing the required at home assignments!