Family Dedication 15 November 2020
Last Sunday (15 Nov), we celebrated God's goodness in blessing three families with new births, and covenanted as a faith family to love and encourage these families and their children.
2020 has seen many difficult challenges and we are surrounded by the constant news of death and disease. Yet, God has given us many reminders that even in this season, He is still sovereign and still blessing His family with increase. Hence, it was with great joy that we gave thanks to God during last Sunday's service (15 Nov) for His goodness in blessing three young families in our midst with new births this year.
The three familes are: the Kongs (Chuan Wei, Melissa, Joshua and baby Zoe), the Hengs (Zexuan, Wen Xiu, Johanna and baby Odelia) and the Fongs (Li Heng, Eunice and baby Yun Qi).
(L-R) The Kongs, the Hengs and the Fongs with their children.
Pastor Ian started the family dedication by referring to Psalm 145:1-4 where David says,
I will extol you, my God and King,
and bless your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless you
and praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
and his greatness is unsearchable.One generation shall commend your works to another,
and shall declare your mighty acts.
He explained that we are thankful for families and we love families as it is within these familial relationships that we have the opportunity to every single day share the good news of Jesus Christ from one generation to the next. He emphasised that family dedication is neither a sacrament nor an ordinance, rather, it is the coming together of a faith family to covenant with God and with one another to provide an environment where these families might experience the love and grace of God and where these children might know and experience the good news.
This was followed by the parents making 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.
The GBC family in turn made the following commitments to these families and the Lord:
We, as fellow members of Grace Baptist Church, commit to sacrificially love your families, 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.
Following the covenant, each family was presented with a book with which we hope will be a useful resource for the parents to start discipling their children into the grace and love of Christ.
Elder Lup Meng ended the family dedication by leading the congregation to give thanks to God for the gift of life and His provisions. We committed these families to the Lord, praying for wisdom for the parents as they represent Christ to their spouse and to their children, as well as for the children that they will in time, turn to Him and experience the joy and love of Christ. Just as importantly, we prayed that as a church family, we would partner with these families to encourage one another to persevere in the faith and to bring these children up in the instruction of the Lord.