This series is a survey of the life of Christ. The theme will be to learn conversations that Jesus had with various people, and we will try to go in chronological order from His early life until after His death.
View Conversations Jesus HadSometimes there are thoughts that we'd love to share with you, but they really don't fit anywhere in particular. So we have a blog for just such items.
We also have a large archive of all of our previous sermon series. Feel free to have a listen.
We maintain a few shared playlists on Apple Music & Spotify. They serve two purposes: To allow you to learn songs before we sing them, and to listen to a wider array of songs that we have sung corporately for the life of Good News.
5600 SE 24th St
Ocala, FL 34480
Phone: (352) 229-8901
Email: info@goodnewsocala.com
Good News Church is located off of Baseline Rd in Ocala, FL. Whether you're coming from North, or South FL, it's a quick jaunt on I-75, or just straight up US Hwy 441.
Get DirectionsChurch is not just Sunday mornings. It's a community of believers joined together. Keep in touch with us throughout the week.
Facebook Twitter Join a Community GroupThe stewardship of our finances is a tremendous—and often overlooked—area of our lives where we can faithfully proclaim the gospel. Giving strengthens our devotion to Christ and frees us to live open-handedly with the gifts God gives us. We trust in Him and His provision instead of our perceived self-sufficiency. As people of faith, we give faithfully and generously.
Give Your MoneyJust as we can donate from our finances, we can also donate our time. In this way you can help serve people inside, and outside, the church body. We have many ways in which you can serve:
Typically, the dedication of a child consists of Christian parents coming before their church to publicly proclaim that they understand that their child is a gift and a trust from God, that they will train them up in God’s ways, and they ask for the support of the people in their church in raising the child up in God’s ways.
It is you, the parents, who are doing the dedicating. The pastor does not have any sort of magical “pastor powers” whereby he can somehow zap your child with some sort of spiritual something. Child dedication does not place any kind of extra-special blessing or protection upon your child, nor does it ensure their immediate or eventual salvation.
Child dedication is not infant baptism. Though some very good churches practice infant baptism, Good News Church believes that the Bible’s instruction regarding baptism is that we are to baptize followers of/believers in Jesus Christ (See Matthew 28:19). We recognize believer’s baptism as the only biblical expression of baptism.
It is also important to note that the practice of child dedication (in the sense of a public ceremony) is not commanded in Scripture. However, what child dedication symbolizes – the idea that your children ultimately belong to God and therefore you must deal with them according to God’s will – is commanded in Scripture. Parenting is a stewardship. God loans us His children for about 18 years and we are to use those years training them up in the ways of God, and not according to our own ways. This is true for all Christian parents whether they publicly dedicate their children or not.
Lastly, it is important to realize that child dedication does not stand on its own. That means, if parents go through some sort of public ceremony dedicating their child to Christ, but do not follow that up with things like: teaching them the Scriptures, praying for them, training/correcting them, and modeling for them a positive example of what it means to know and follow Jesus – then the dedication was essentially meaningless. It doesn’t do anything. Child dedication is simply the public acknowledgement and commitment to our responsibility to raise our children “in the Lord” (See Deuteronomy 6:4-7 & Ephesians 6:1-4).
Fill out our form to set it up. We can coordinate a Sunday that works for both you and the church. Oftentimes, we try to do multiple families together at the same time.
On that particular Sunday, you will meet with the pastor about 30 minutes prior to the start of the service to discuss what is about to happen. He will tell you where to stand, what to do, etc. During the service, the pastor will explain to the congregation what child dedication is, maybe read some Bible verses about parents and children, and then he will call you (parents & child) up to the front. He will ask you the following questions to which you would answer in the affirmative (we do, we will, etc.):
Then the pastor will ask the congregation this: Do you, as a congregation, undertake the responsibility of assisting the parents in the Christian nurture of this child?
After that, the pastor will pray regarding all of this. Then, you will go back to your seats.
Child dedication consists of Christian parents coming before their church to publicly proclaim that they understand that their child is a gift and a trust from God, that they will train them up in God’s ways, and they ask for the support of the people in their church in raising the child up in God’s ways.
The first step is to fill out our form to set it up. We can coordinate a Sunday that works for both you and the church. Oftentimes, we try to do multiple families together at the same time.