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Family Dedication 16 Jun 2019

Families are God's gifts to the church and during last Sunday's Family Dedication service, we covenanted with God and with one another to steward two young families He has blessed us with. 

Leading the dedication service last Sunday, Ps Ian started by sharing how God has blessed GBC with young families and we are stewards of His treasures. He explained that when God desired to instruct His people in His Word, He did not establish church, but instead He established families. He then invited on stage the two young families: Yanadi and Fellisia with their son Lazarus, and Takeshi and Stephanie with their daughter Hana as they dedicate themselves to obey what God has called us to do in Deut 6:4-7. The GBC family was also invited to covenant with them and with the Lord to love and support them. 

family-dedication-jun-2019-1(Left) Stephanie and Takeshi with Hana, (right) Fellisia and Yanadi with Lazarus.

The parents made 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.

This was followed by the GBC family making 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. 

 

Ps Ian then led us in prayers, thanking God for these parents who have made the sacrifical commitment to share their affection with another human soul, and entrusting these parents and us with His treasures. We pray that as a church family, we will provide an environment that is safe for the children to be loved in and that He will help us to model what it is like to live sacrifically, loving one another. We pray that He will guard and protect the hearts of Hana and Lazarus and make them mighty in His kingdom; that He will fill us with the unusual grace that we need as we raise these little lives. We thank God for loving us as children.

At the end of the service, the families were each presented with a book which we pray will be helpful to them as they shepherd the lives of their young ones.

family-dedication-jun-2019-3

Ps Ian presenting the families with a book each: "And God Said..." for Takeshi, Stephanie and Hana, and "Big Beliefs!: Small Devotionals Introducing Your Family to Big Truths" to Yanadi, Fellisia and Lazarus. 

You can watch the Family Dedication held during last Sunday's service here: