Baptism &
Child Dedication

At Selah Hills Church, we celebrate significant milestones in the life of every believer and their family. Baptism and child dedication are two such important events where we come together as a church family to honor God’s work in our lives.

Baptism IS...

A step of obedience in the Christian faith.
The Apostle Peter said to new converts of the early church “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins”  // Acts 2:38, Matthew 28:19

Identifying with Christ in His death.
When we go under the water we are declaring our old selves dead, just as Christ died and was put in the grave.  // Romans 6:3, Romans 6:6

A symbol of being raised to walk in newness of life.
When we come out of the water it symbolizes our new life, that we are new creations in Christ.  // Romans 6:4, 2 Cor. 5:17

A public declaration of faith in Christ in front of witnesses.
Baptism is more than just a ritual; it’s a testimony to your new life in Christ. In line with the teachings of the Bible, we practice full-immersion baptism, symbolizing death to sin and resurrection to a new life through Jesus. It’s a public declaration of your faith and a beautiful act of obedience to Christ’s command.


If you are needing to take that step of obedience and be baptized, please register below and we will be happy to work with you on this exciting next step!

Child Dedication

Baby dedications are done when a believing family has a new child and wants to publicly declare that the child belongs first to God, and to themselves second. This means that they are promising to raise the child up in the ways of the Lord and do everything they can to help that child know how to walk with God.

The example typically used for this is with Hannah and her son Samuel found in 1st Samuel chapter 1. Hannah is barren and cannot have a child, but after telling God that if He gives her a child she will dedicate him to Gods service. Gods blesses her and gives her a child. She amazingly follow through on her promise and gives the child to Eli who was leading Israel at that time, to be raised as a servant of God in the house of God.

Today, we do not drop off our children at the church to be raised by the pastor, but the principle remains the same. We acknowledge that our children are a blessing from God, given to us by his grace, and therefore they ultimately belong to God first before they belong to us. We are promising, like Hannah, to raise the child in the fear and admonishion of the Lord, and to train them to live for God and be used in His Kingdom.

It is not required for believing families to do this, and is not any means to salvation for the child. It is, though, a special time for the family as they dedicate their child to God. It is also a time for the whole church body to pray for God’s favor and protection that individual child.