South Main Baptist Church

Milestones in a child’s life call attention to important transformations. Milestones can also mark the path forward, reminding kids—and all of us—where they're headed next, and the important changes and decisions that may lie ahead.

Celebrating these transformations together is an important spiritual discipline. We know that the way we choose to celebrate important passages shapes the way we see them. When we, as a church family, pause our regular routines to acknowledge key milestones in a child's life, we're sending a powerful message to and about them, about their identity in Christ. Celebrations also give us a chance to widen the circle of committed adults in our children’s lives, drawing them in as prayer partners, faith coaches, and covenant voices.

The Family Ministry and the South Main congregation recognize six significant milestones in a child's life:

• Family Covenant — When a child is born, parents present them to our entire church family seeking blessing and entering into covenant whereby we commit to walking the path of parenthood with the family and the parents commit to raise their child in faith and in fellowship with us. Parents claim a biblical verse for their child.
   
• Kindergarten Blessings — When a child enters kindergarten, they are entering into a new world with more responsibility and freedom which connotes a release of control for parents. This milestone is an important time to surround parents and remind them that we continue to walk the path of parenthood with them by blessing them and connecting a prayer partner (a parent of a senior in high school) to pray for the child (and the parents) throughout this year.
   
• Rite of Passage — The ritual and celebration around this milestone is still in the works and will be new for our South Main families. It is so very important as children transition from being a child to being a young adult that we affirm them in both grand and intimate ways and bestow blessing upon them.
   
• New Drivers' Blessing — This is another new milestone for our South Main families and will mirror the kindergarten blessing in that it signifies another substantial step in freedom and responsibility for the child and another release of control for parents.  

• High School Graduate Covenant - This covenant completes the arc started with the family covenant. High school graduates come seeking blessing from their church family and we celebrate the path we have journeyed together. Youth now claim their own life verse. 

• The Ordinance of Baptism — A covenant blessing before the church, welcoming children as sisters and brothers in the family of God based on their personal, informed decision to follow Christ (Learn more about Baptism at South Main.)

 
If you have questions about any of these milestone celebrations, please contact Dolores Rader or one of the Family Ministry Associates.