I wasn't sure where to ask this question, but as it relates to worship....
After being approached by a young couple who moved to the area and had a baby, our church performed a baby blessing a couple of years ago. We thank God that we have a new crop this year. I've heard of churches that schedule their baby blessing for Father's Day as a way of emphasising the spiritual responsibilities God has given fathers. I like that idea. However, I'm running into several issues:
1. How would this timing impact mother's who are spiritually single parents?
2. How would this timing impact mother's who are single parents?
3. Is there a better time? eg. back to school?
4. In general, how do we decide who "qualifies" to participate in the baby blessing? We have several unmarried women who attend regularly and who recently had babies. I believe we're being gracious by continuing to welcome them around the congregation, and give God's Spirit time to work within their lives. But it would seem strange to have them standing before the congregation while an elder prays for God to guide them as they raise their child. My elders are particularly sensitive that they don't want to be seen to be glossing over the obvious sins, or communicate to our teen girls and other young women that sexual morals aren't important.
5. What policies or procedures have you seen in churches that might help us out? Are you aware of other resources "out there" on this practice?
Many thanks in anticipation!!Views: 53
Peter, we have a "baby blessing" time as well. You raise some good questions. If the mother had shown repentance (if the baby was born out of wedlock while she was a member) or if she were a single mother who started coming to the church after the baby was born, I would go ahead and do the blessing. After all, the child has not done anything, and if the mother is now wanting to raise the child in the Lord, hallelujah! Would we not encourage this in a non-public manner as well? So why not publicly?
If the mother were proudly unrepentant, I would think differently about this, I think.
I think it is remarkable how closely intertwined is this question with the other recent question, "Why don't people go to church?"
#1 - I personally would not do it on Father's Day, specifically for the reasons mentioned. Many children either do not have fathers, or worse, have "bad' fathers, or absent fathers. Does not the child and the mother deserve the "baby blessing" still? And perhaps need it more than do children with fathers?
#2 - How this relates to WHY people don't like "going to" church: In this day, this question (should unwed mothers - members or visitors - participate in the baby blessing) is seen as the most sad form of hypocrisy. We could sit here and make a list of 1000 sins. Some way smaller than having a baby without being married, and many MUCH worse. (If you want to assign a value to how bad one sin is compared to another.) But you know what? Virtually all of them can be hidden for years, or even hidden forever. A pregnancy cannot be hidden, unless you move to a different town like young girls used to do. But then no matter where you live, the fact that you have a baby but no husband cannot be hidden. Really, basically ALL other sins can be swept under the rug. Practially all sins can be ignored by your fellow man, because we do not see them nor their outcomes.
In a day when statistics say that 50 + % (not sure of exact percent) of even Christian people sleep together before they're married, it seems preposterous to judge only the ones that are easy to catch. No wonder young people call us more and more and more hypocrites.
No wonder they think church is just a place to be judged.
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