Child Dedications at HPC

The next Child Dedications at High Point Church will be held on March 11 and June 17 (Father's Day), 2012 during worship service.

If you would like to have your child dedicated, please contact the church office. We will be holding an information meeting to discuss the service and your part in it.

We, at High Point Church, are often asked if we “baptize” infants. This is also made more complicated when other Christian churches, even evangelical churches, baptize infants and children. While it is not our intention to explain all these differences between churches, some degree of explanation about why we do what we do is still in order.

High Point Church is a non-denominational church that aligns itself with other churches that are broadly considered “evangelical”. The word “evangelical” refers to our unswerving commitment to the inerrancy and authoritative Word of God, that is the Scriptures. We believe that the Bible is without error- historically, scientifically, and spiritually true in its original writings. We also believe that the Bible that we have in our hands today is overwhelmingly the same words as that penned by the original writers. Hence, for all but a few disputed passages, we believe that the Bible today is the embodiment of God’s intended revelation to us. It is sufficient to understand who He is, who we are, who Jesus Christ is and what He has done for us, our proper response for salvation and holiness of life and our destiny in the future.

Believing such about the Scriptures, we are then obligated to derive meaning for our practices, which must flow preeminently from the Scriptures. In Matthew 28: 19 Jesus commands us to “…make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit…” It is understood from this passage that the preaching of the Good News of Jesus Christ must precede baptism. It is by the work of the Holy Spirit, through the faithful preaching of the Gospel, not the performance of a ritual of immersion, sprinkling or pouring, whereby disciples are made. Baptism can be given only when the recipient has responded to the word in repentance and faith. That this pattern was clearly understood by the Apostles is made manifest in the many examples found in the early history of the church (Acts 2:38; 8:36ff; 10:45; 16:32-33)

The Apostle Paul confirms this understanding in his teaching about baptism in Romans 6. It is in repentance and faith that we are identified with Jesus Christ in his death, burial and resurrection. The person who is baptized is clearly proclaiming his turning from sin, believing Christ for forgiveness of sin and turning his/her back on the old life and living a new life in Christ. Although there is no direct prohibition of infant baptism in the New Testament, care should be exercised to bring the whole counsel of God to bear in situations with no clear biblical instruction.

Does that mean that God doesn’t care about children, or worse will condemn them to eternal separation from Him without “repentance and faith”? The Bible clearly teaches that God cares deeply for children. Passages like Matthew 18:1-6 and 19:13-15 affirm the Lord's love for them. Those verses don't state that children go to heaven, but they do show God's heart toward children. He created and cares for children, and beyond that, He always accomplishes His perfect will in every circumstance. John MacArthur writes:

  “The psalmist reminds us that God is "full of compassion and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth" (Ps. 86:15). He is the God who became flesh that He might carry our sins away by His death on the cross (2 Cor. 5:21). He is the God who will comfort Christians in heaven, for "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death; nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain" (Rev. 21:4). We can be assured that God will do what is right and loving because He is the standard of rightness and love. These considerations alone seem to be evidence enough of God's particular, electing love shown to the unborn and those who die young.”

So, at High Point Church, we do not baptize those who cannot recognize their need for repentance and- with the Holy Spirit’s help and leading- express their faith in Christ’s death and resurrection. What we do is called a Child Dedication. But this ceremony is more aptly a “Parent Dedication”. Please pay special attention to the promises that these parents will be making. Also, clearly understand the role that those who call High Point Church their church home play in the their lives and the lives of their child. Continue to pray for this family that- by God’s grace- they may love this child, instruct this child, admonish and discipline this child, and most importantly reflect the love and character of the child’s Heavenly Father. In so doing, we earnestly desire that at the earliest age possible this child would accept Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and Lord. In so doing it doesn’t mean that the child will lead a perfect and sinless life. No such state of being is found in the Scriptures. However, the child now has an eternal advocate that gives him the grace of forgiveness of sin and the grace of enablement to lead a life that is pleasing to God.

This is our belief based upon the Scriptures and is the foundation of our practice of Child Dedication.
If you would like to have your child dedicated, please contact the church office.