{"id":238,"date":"2025-12-19T01:29:25","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T01:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gracerivercity.church\/?page_id=238"},"modified":"2026-02-28T18:44:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T18:44:06","slug":"dedication-baptism","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.gracerivercity.church\/index.php\/dedication-baptism\/","title":{"rendered":"Dedication &#038; Baptism"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"et_pb_section_0 et_pb_section et_section_regular et_flex_section\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_row_0 et_pb_row et_flex_row\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_column_0 et_pb_column et-last-child et_flex_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough et_flex_column_24_24 et_flex_column_24_24_tablet et_flex_column_24_24_phone\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_heading_0 et_pb_heading et_animated et_pb_module et_block_module preset--module--divi-heading--ddeb8c09-9078-4424-bc15-2efb6572e28e\"><div class=\"et_pb_heading_container\"><h1 class=\"et_pb_module_header\">Dedication and Baptism<\/h1><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_section_1 et_pb_section et_section_regular et_block_section section_has_divider et_pb_bottom_divider\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_row_1 et_pb_row et_flex_row\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_column_1 et_pb_column et-last-child et_flex_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough et_flex_column_24_24 et_flex_column_24_24_tablet et_flex_column_24_24_phone\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_text_0 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_block_module preset--module--divi-text--2c55a9c4-feed-423b-9edb-ae0b5b365cac\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For babies and infants, we have child dedications. This is a public acknowledgment of the child as a gift from God and an expression of our faith that God will bring the child to a personal knowledge of Himself. During a baby dedication, parents stand before the church family to express their desire to lead their child toward a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The pastor prays a prayer of blessing over the child and the family, and the congregation joins in prayer and support, promising to come alongside the parents in encouragement and love.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We see examples of this kind of dedication in Scripture\u2014Hannah dedicated her son Samuel to the Lord (1 Samuel 1:27\u201328), and Mary and Joseph presented Jesus at the temple (Luke 2:22). These moments remind us that children ultimately belong to God, and that parents are entrusted with the sacred responsibility of nurturing them in faith, love, and truth.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We practice \u201cbaptism for believers\u201d by immersion as we believe this to be the biblical pattern and a spiritual foundation for growth for new believers. We run baptism classes for those who know Jesus as their Saviour and want to be baptised.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both dedications and baptisms are occasions of great joy and thanksgiving in which we join with the individuals and families in celebrating what God is doing in their lives. If you would like to find out more please get in touch.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_row_2 et_pb_row et_flex_row\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_column_2 et_pb_column et_flex_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough et_flex_column_8_24 et_flex_column_8_24_tablet et_flex_column_24_24_phone\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_image_0 et_pb_image et_pb_image_sticky_phone et_pb_module et_flex_module\"><span class=\"et_pb_image_wrap\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/gracerivercity.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/dedication-2.webp\" alt=\"dedication 2\" title=\"dedication 2\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gracerivercity.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/dedication-2.webp 600w, https:\/\/gracerivercity.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/dedication-2-480x320.webp 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 600px, 100vw\" class=\"wp-image-348\" \/><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_column_3 et_pb_column et_flex_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough et_flex_column_8_24 et_flex_column_8_24_tablet et_flex_column_24_24_phone\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_image_1 et_pb_image et_pb_module et_flex_module\"><span class=\"et_pb_image_wrap\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/gracerivercity.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/dedication-3.webp\" alt=\"dedication 3\" title=\"dedication 3\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gracerivercity.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/dedication-3.webp 600w, https:\/\/gracerivercity.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/dedication-3-480x320.webp 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 600px, 100vw\" class=\"wp-image-349\" \/><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_column_4 et_pb_column et-last-child et_flex_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough et_flex_column_8_24 et_flex_column_8_24_tablet et_flex_column_24_24_phone\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_image_2 et_pb_image et_pb_module et_flex_module\"><span class=\"et_pb_image_wrap\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/gracerivercity.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/dedication-1.webp\" alt=\"dedication 1\" title=\"dedication 1\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gracerivercity.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/dedication-1.webp 600w, https:\/\/gracerivercity.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/dedication-1-480x320.webp 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 600px, 100vw\" class=\"wp-image-347\" \/><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"et_pb_bottom_inside_divider et-no-transition\"><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-238","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gracerivercity.church\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gracerivercity.church\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gracerivercity.church\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gracerivercity.church\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gracerivercity.church\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.gracerivercity.church\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":420,"href":"https:\/\/www.gracerivercity.church\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/238\/revisions\/420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gracerivercity.church\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}