What’s the alternative to infant baptism for believing parents?

The popular alternative is called “dedication,” in which the church celebrates the joy of a new baby and the parents publicly state their intentions to raise this child to love and serve the Lord.

Is dedication biblical? This is an important question because Baptists reject infant baptism on biblical grounds; dedication in the manner just described is foreign to scripture. The baby Samuel was “dedicated” to the Lord, but that meant his mother literally gave him to the priest, and he was raised in the priest’s home.

However, just because it’s not in the bible doesn’t mean the practice of dedication is contrary to the Bible. We acknowledge and honor parents’ desire, and joyfully grant space in our worship services to pray a special prayer for new babies and allow parents to announce their commitments for their babies, and the church will joyfully walk with these parents as they raise their kids.

Because we see communion as a celebration of baptism, we ask these parents to withhold communion from their dedicated kids until they’ve been baptized.