What "What This Child Will Be" means
The title is a parent's prayer before they know the answer. It is the question that every parent carries into a child dedication service, sometimes with hope and sometimes with anxiety that is dressed as hope. Nicole Nordeman writes in a mode of honest tenderness that rarely appears in congregational worship. She does not pretend the future is certain, does not paper over the vulnerability of bringing a new person into a world that can damage them. Instead, the title holds the uncertainty as the honest posture of faith. What will this child become? Nobody knows. But the God who is being invoked at a dedication service does know, and the song is an act of entrusting the unknown future to the known character of that God. There is a difference between "I know what this child will be" and "God knows what this child will be and I am placing them in those hands." The song lives in the second posture, which is the more honest and the more difficult one.
What this song does in a room
It makes adults remember that they were once the child being held at the front of a room while people prayed over them. That is a powerful kind of liturgical time travel, and it tends to produce both tenderness and gratitude. Parents in the room who are currently raising children will feel the weight of the question the title asks, the specific anxiety of loving someone whose future you cannot control. Adults whose children are grown will feel the retrospective version of that prayer. People who are themselves still figuring out what they will be will find in this song an unexpected word: someone was praying for you before you knew who you were. In a dedication service, this song gives the congregation a role beyond spectatorship. The room becomes the village that is making a commitment to this child and these parents, and that shift matters.
What this song is saying about God
The song is saying that God holds the future without anxiety, that the unknown ahead of this child is known territory to God. It is also saying that God is interested in individuals, not just populations, that a specific child being held at the front of a room matters to the God who set stars in place. There is a Providence claim here, not a deterministic one but a relational one: God knows and God cares and God has plans that lean toward good, and the act of dedication is an invitation for the congregation and the parents to align with that trajectory. The song also implies that God honors the prayers of parents and communities, that the act of bringing this child before God is not ritual without content but a genuine act with genuine weight.
Scriptural backbone
1 Samuel 1:27-28 is Hannah's language: "For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. Therefore I also have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives he shall be given to the Lord." Jeremiah 29:11 is the hope: "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Psalm 139:13-16 grounds the individual care of God: "For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb...Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me."
How to use it in a service
Child dedication is the primary placement, and the song earns it completely. But it works in any service touching on parenting, on childhood, on the beginning of a new life together as a family. In a Mother's Day or Father's Day service, it shifts the frame from celebration of parents to prayer for children in a way that feels honest rather than sentimental. In a New Year's service or a service about beginning something new, the theme of unknown futures entrusted to a known God extends beyond the literal child to every person in the room who is standing at a threshold. One practical note for dedication services: print the lyrics in the bulletin so the congregation can sing along as the family stands at the front. The song is most powerful when it is actually congregational, not a performance piece for the congregation to observe.
Things to watch for as the worship leader
Pace matters enormously here. At 85 BPM in F, the song should not feel rushed. The tenderness of the content requires that each phrase has room to land. If your tempo is pulling even a few BPM fast, the emotional weight will not have time to settle. Watch also for the parents holding the child. They are having a very different experience than the congregation. Your job is to hold the space for both, for the congregation's reflective posture and for the parents' specific, present, overwhelming moment. After the song, a brief pastoral word before prayer matters more here than in most contexts. The congregation has been moved, and they need a few words that honor what just happened before they are asked to move to the next element. Do not rush the transition.
A note for the team behind you (techs, vocalists, band)
Band: restraint is everything here. This song does not need a full production. Piano and acoustic guitar are sufficient. If you add anything else, add it sparingly and in service of the emotional register, not the sonic one. A cello or violin line, if you have that resource, elevates the song to something remarkable without overpowering it. The key of F is slightly lower than most contemporary worship songs, which serves the gentle, intimate quality of the piece. Do not transpose it up to make it easier to play. The lower register is part of the emotional content. Vocalists: this song belongs to one voice or at most two in very close harmony. The intimacy of the text is undermined by a full choir. Sing it quietly and with restraint, saving the full dynamic range for the final chorus alone. Techs: the mix should feel intimate and close, not large and broadcast-ready. If you have the option to lower the stage volume and let the natural acoustic of the room carry more weight, this is the song to try it. Keep stage monitors low enough that the room is not fighting the foldback, and let the house mix breathe at a conversational level rather than a concert level.