It was a beautiful Sabbath at church the day my kids were dedicated. After my daughter was born at the very beginning of the pandemic, we had not been able to hold the special ceremony. Then, we had been searching for a new church for a while. In the meantime, we had another child. When we finally got involved and transferred our membership to a new church, we wanted to get both kids dedicated. A little delayed but we thought it was important. It was also lovely that my parents could journey from Adelaide to join us.
As a denomination, we don’t practise infant baptism. Yet dedication is a public prayer over children born into the church that doesn’t make them members but is like a commitment from the parents to raise them to know God. It is also a commitment from the church and family to support the parents as they raise their children in faith. The pastor provides a prayer, and the church gives the child a little gift or certificate to commemorate the occasion.
Now this dedication was different to any I’d ever been part of, in terms of the scale. In all, 10 children were dedicated at once. I don’t think I’ve ever been at or heard of a dedication that size. It is a testament to the strength of the children’s ministries at the church I attend. There is a playgroup, Adventurers and Sabbath school programs, all of which are attracting families from the community.
So it would be easy to turn this editorial into a tribute to our kids’ programs and our volunteers who make it all possible. However, as I reflected on this event a thought struck me that I want to share with you. It woke me up, shocked me. It is a devastating thought and one that I hope gives you some motivation to stay the course and become active in your love and compassion for those in our churches, and those in our communities.
There were 10 children dedicated that Sabbath. How many of them will leave the Church? Well, according to the statistics we keep hearing out of the General Conference, four in 10 Adventist Church members leave the Church. In parts of the world, it could be higher.
It is a number that should break our hearts but for some reason it doesn’t. My children were up there, two of the 10. I pray they stay, but how many of us have seen our children leave? The rest of the 10, well they’re our friends. They are kids we care about, precious to Jesus and they should be precious to us.
And it could be even worse.
The stats for our children are often untraced. Many children who make commitments to Jesus at Adventist schools and churches don’t get around to being baptised, and when they leave the Church, don’t even register as losses. So out of those 10 precious babies in our church, which ones will we see walk out the door, never to return?
I would say none. But do we care? Will we fight, in prayer and through sacrifice and discomfort and putting our children above ourselves? Will we teach them about Jesus, not only with our words but with our actions, because that is what really counts?
The reality is that we may win people with the truth or even with relationships, but we keep people through discipleship, seeing them grow into a deep and abiding relationship with God. It is not easy and it takes a full church effort.
I’m not writing this to lay blame. This is not the place to try to identify who is at fault or why we are haemorrhaging members. But we can put our feet down and commit to not losing the children in our care. With the mission focus around the South Pacific in the next five years, we must take time to ensure that any new members are connected, served and integrated into our communities. They are not projects or targets, numbers or statistics. They are God’s children, made in His image, and they are as precious to Him as our children are to us.
