NOM

I recently went through this and I learned something interesting about the process. A bishopric member doesn't have to be there officially...but sometimes they say that to verify that "it is done correctly". They care about this ordinance over other blessings because this triggers the creation of a record for the child in the church's system. What I learned is that you have the option to request that this record be created separate from the blessing. This way, if you want to do the blessing with just family present you can. You wouldn't even have to tell them the blessing was done (and they probably wouldn't care) if you just created a record separately.

didyoumythme wrote: ↑Sat Feb 11, 2017 12:25 am I recently went through this and I learned something interesting about the process. A bishopric member doesn't have to be there officially...but sometimes they say that to verify that "it is done correctly". They care about this ordinance over other blessings because this triggers the creation of a record for the child in the church's system. What I learned is that you have the option to request that this record be created separate from the blessing. This way, if you want to do the blessing with just family present you can. You wouldn't even have to tell them the blessing was done (and they probably wouldn't care) if you just created a record separately.

This is a good point that I also discovered when I was a ward clerk. A lot of young parents came to me wanting to get the baby blessing coordinated with creating the official church record. I was able to reassure them that I could create the record as soon as the birth and name were confirmed. The blessing could come later.

While births, baptisms, confirmations, priesthoods, and marriages are recorded in detail, baby blessing dates are not recorded at all on official church records. It is not an ordinance of salvation. It is a very good cultural practice to formally announce a new infant into a ward, but we don't have "proxy baby blessings" in the temple because there is no salvation riding on it.

The blessing certificate can be printed at any time with any name on it that a parent wants. I had parents who came to me hoping beyond hope that I could produce the blessing certificate for an adult child that was being put in a nice frame as a sentimental gift for a college grad. I could easily do this since it's just a template and a stack of nice paper that the church provides for the certificate.

I have a question.. My kids have never had a baby blessing but they have a membership number. How is that possible? Not that I care if they have a number or not, but I thought the baby blessing triggered that.