JCISONLINE

Here is another guest post from our Preschool Ministry Director, Patti Jo Mackey. You can follow her at @pattijomackey

Here is what she has to say about Parent Child Dedication as a milestone!!

One of the main goals of BrookwoodKiDs is to partner with parents.  One way that we do this is through Parent Child Dedication.  At one point, our Dedication Ceremony was a part of our main service 2x a year.  Our senior pastor would carve out about 15 minutes of the service and have the participating families come on stage.  He would present them with a certificate, and pray over the children.  It was a precious moment that our church family shared, but I was concerned that because this was such a significant milestone, that it really deserved more investment.  It took time, prayer, trial and error, and lots of meetings, but today we have incorporated some of the following elements into our Dedication process:

• We’ve developed a class for parents to attend that is about an hour and a half long.
• We limit the class to 15 families.
• During that class we talk about what Dedication is, and what Dedication is not.
• We also challenge our parents to look at their own spiritual walk.

Parents are the number one influencer in a child’s life, and if we want our kids to know Jesus and love Him, it doesn’t happen because we just tell them.  We, as parents, have to live it out in front of them.  Parent Child Dedication is so much more about the Parent dedicating themselves to God, as well as raising their child for God!   At the class, we request their information, pictures to use during the ceremony, as well as a few items for homework.  We ask them to…

1. Write a letter to their child, dedicating their child to God.  Then, at the ceremony, the parents share their letter, and let me just tell you… bring your tissues… this part of the ceremony can be emotional.
2. Choose a life verse for their child, which is also shared at the ceremony.
3. Choose a Dedication sponsor, someone who will partner and support them in the spiritual development of their child.  The Dedication Sponsor(s) usually are onstage with the family as they share their letter and verse.

These days, our ceremony happens on a Sunday afternoon, and our Family Pastor shares a message of Promises.  Following the ceremony, we have a reception.  One area that we are currently processing, is what the next steps for the families as well as sponsors might look like.
As amazing as all this sounds, this process is no simple task.  Not only has it taken time to develop, but it takes a tremendous amount of skill to implement.  I’m so thankful for the Preschool team of BrookwoodKiDs.  Please feel free to contact me if you have questions or would like help in beginning a process in your church.

If you’d like to contact Patti Jo, follow her on twitter and you can find her info on brookwoodchurch.org

You can also drop a comment and I can email or dm you the info as well.

I would post her email address but am going to save her the spam requests from robots if I did.

You guys hear me so much on this blog… I want to highlight some people this week with their thoughts on some of the Milestones that we have. First up is our Elementary Ministry Director, Laurie Sinkele. Laurie was a major reason we decided to go another direction when it comes to baptism for Kids at Brookwood. She’s put together a few of her thoughts on the struggle for baptism with kids and what our process looks like now. You can follow her on twitter as @lsinkele . I hope a ton of you follow her so she will tweet more often. Yes I’m totally asking for a favor

If you have any questions for Laurie, drop a comment and I’ll be sure to get her to check in with her thoughts!

We are thrilled that we can walk with parents in sharing Jesus with their kids.  We also recognize working in children’s ministry; we have an important job in leading children to Christ but feel that the biggest influence of the kids we see on Sundays is their parents.   We know for most people their spiritual journey it is not always an event that shaped their faith.   It is a series of events.  So when we look at baptism we try to get families to look at the milestones that lead them to faith instead of one event like baptism.

It is so easy to say, “I’m a Christian” and not live as one.  Sometimes baptism is viewed as they have made it as a Christian when in reality their journey has just begun.  That is one of the reasons it is so important that as a ministry and church we teach our kids and parents that baptism is sharing and growing our faith.  We don’t want them to be confused that baptism is a means to salvation.

When an elementary child shows interest in being baptized we have the parents attend a class called Leading Your Child to Christ.  That class is a prerequisite to First Steps for Kids.  In these classes we cover the basic beliefs of baptism:

• To follow the example set by Christ. Mark 1:9

• Christ commanded it.  Matthew 28:19-20

• Illustrates Jesus’ burial and resurrection.  Colossians 1:12

• Demonstrates I am a believer.  Acts 18:9

• It’s an outward symbol of the commitment you make in your heart.

Our Leading Your Child to Christ class is for parents of elementary kids who want to be baptized.  In this class we walk through with parents what a relationship with Jesus looks like.  We want to minimize confusion of a faith journey.  We share with them that baptism is just the beginning of their kids spiritual journey and that it is a profession of faith and not a one- time event that they have arrived at.

We also teach parents to write their story of faith.  This gets them to look at their walk with God and how they can model that to their kids.  We don’t suggest to parents that they breakout a bible study each night with their kids.  We suggest that they model their faith, communicate their faith, and pray for their child.  Not every child’s walk with God will be the same.  Once parents have written their own story they are more equipped to help their child write theirs.

First Steps for Kids is a class that parents and kids attend together.  This is a time when parents can help their child write their story.  Through this class we hope the parents and child understand the meaning of baptism and are better prepared to make a decision whether or not that child is ready for baptism.

These classes will help the parents and children see if that child really understands and is ready for baptism.  We want the kids and parents to understand that salvation is not dependant on baptism.  Our faith is a great journey.   It is exciting to see what God has for us.

Light Bulb No. 2, originally uploaded by Caveman (Kickin’ 66 with Pete Zarria).

To give a little bit of a crash course in Milestones I’ll provide a little commentary on the situation.

For a lot of Milestones, we seek Parents when they are having an “Oh Crap!” moment. Whether it’s transition, pressure, behavior, etc. Parents are freaked out about something. We generally recognize common times that these moments are happening and try to turn the “Oh Crap!” into an “AHA!”.

Light bulbs generally don’t light themselves. An idea or concept needs to be caught and then put into practice. So every “AHA!” moment you want to achieve will need at least two things from Parents and in some cases kids:

1) Vision that compels peeps to move from “Oh Crap!” to “Aha!”
2) A plan that people can achieve and one that you can keep them accountable to.

So what “Oh Crap!” moments do families have in your ministry context?
How can you move them to “AHA!”?