Continuous child dedication ministry — leader of record (2015): Sister Claudette Lynch [Current Cradle Roll Secretary — to confirm]

The Cradle Roll is HBC’s child dedication ministry. As Sister Claudette Lynch wrote in 2015: “The cradle roll provides nurturing of children who have been dedicated in the church. It allows the church to enable parents in the nurturing of their children. Regular contacts with parents have been established by the cradle roll secretary who encourages the parents on the essence of worship and the spiritual input that the church offers in the life of both parent and children.”

The Cradle Roll Secretary keeps an accurate register of every child dedication that takes place at HBC, gives a short address to godparents on the meaning and responsibilities of their role, and the following spring sends out personal invitations to the Mother’s Day service to the parents of every child dedicated in the previous year. The result is a sustained pastoral connection with new families across many years.

HBC’s child dedication ministry attracts families from a remarkable distance. As Sister Lynch’s chapter notes: “Apart from the local Harlesden and Willesden areas, parents travel from Edgware, Colindale, Perivale, Harrow, Southwark, Luton and Lewisham to have their children dedicated at Harlesden Baptist Church. They drive past many other churches to come to Harlesden.”

The Cradle Roll is historically rooted in the church’s life. The 1920s/30s scrapbook records cradle roll entries: “Joan I. Stebbing, 4th December 1928; Audrey W. Stebbing; Jean Hazel Gooch (dedicated 8 March); Ivy Partington” — recorded together with the dedication of Jean Hazel Gooch on 8 March, all part of a continuous tradition that has now run for over a century.

Sources: [125th] pp. 48–49; [Scrap] (1928–1931 Cradle Roll entries).