Baby Dedication Registration
Baby dedicationregistration may occurover the phone, in person or viaan online form.
Information needed during registration is:
- service date/time
- baby’s name
- parents’ names
- address
- phone number
Also, ask the parentif he/she has already asked a leader to pray with them at the service. If they have spoken with a leader, then put an asterisk (*) by the leader’s name. There are times when not all the leaders show up and we have to split up couples (leaders) to pray for families and we won’t ask the ones that had already committed to pray with a family, and the asterisk lets us know who not to ask.
Mail a letter to each family that has information on when and where the families should be.
Call each family the week of to confirm that they are still planning on having their baby dedicated.
Helpful hint:
I try not to take any more registrations after the Tuesday before, but more times than not if they already have a leader then I will take them. I will also cut it off after we get so many. I do this because finding leaders is the most time consuming part of baby dedications. I will literally spend the majority of the week of working on just that depending on how many we have registered. From time to time I will have people who haven’t registered just show up and want to have their child dedicated. I will sometimes take them depending on when they show up and if I have extra leaders to pray with them.
Pastor’s List
This is the list that the pastor’s use when they announce the families. Do not list the parent’s last name, only their first name. (This is to notembarrass any families who are not married.) The list is also color coded between white and another lighter color to show the families, like if a family is having more than one child dedicated.
Helpful hint:I also change the spelling of a name that is not spelled traditionally, like I change to Kheli to Kelly. And if it’s an unusual name I’ll try to break it up phonetically in parenthesis to help with the pronunciation.
Host List
This is for the person (or persons)facilitating it the day of and anyone helping them. This has the baby’s and parents' names, who is praying for them and what number they are in line.
Helpful hint:I usually check-in the families, one person checks-in the leaders (they also give the leaders the families certificates) and the other helps direct people, get people in line and send the updated list to the pastor if needed.
Certificates
Print certificates on a light blue, marble looking card stock.
Wording for the certificate for a child of a single parent, the certificate says "I" instead of "We."
Helpful Hint:I will print several certificates without names or dates and have a pastor sign them and use the blank certificate to fill in the names and dates. This is if I make a mistake, the parent loses it or I have a late family register then I already have some signed.
For parents who are not married, don’t include their last names on the certificate either. Place thecertificates in big white envelopes with a label that has the baby’s name on it. Place apost-it on it with the leader’s name at the top, the parents’ names and what number they are. That gives the leaders the information they need. Putthe * next to the leaders name if the family has asked for them on the registration. If the parents are not married, put a little dot in the bottom right hand corner of the post-it. That way we can communicate discreetly to the leaders that the parents are not married.
Helpful Hint:I have had parents come to have their child dedicated who are not together or on speaking terms and leaders didn’t know they weren’t married wished they would have known that. I do communicate what the * and the dot mean to the people helping me so they know what’s going on.
Updated: 8/2016