Children at the Lord's Supper

As far as I know, and I'm no expert, children are welcome after they've made profession of faith. Communion is a sign between Christ and his Church. And while children are part of the covenant, they're not full members of the church until they'll professed Christ.

At this time, the CRC Church Order allows "members by baptism" to be admitted to the Lord's Supper "upon a public profession of faith." This is an age-appropriate profession indicating an Apostles' Creed-like faith awareness and sufficient understanding of the sacrament. Children in many congregations do this anywhere between the ages of 9 and 12. Other churches still operate according to the older model or tradition that has people doing profession of faith at approximately age 18 or older.

Everyone is invited to go to www.crcna.org and view the latest discussions on the matter provided by the Faith Formation Committee, a study committee of synod that will present a final report to Synod 2012.

So while we currently do not believe that people are welcome by reason of their baptism, we do allow for children 9-12 at communion and we are continuing the discussion of whether to make new changes in the future.

Now folks, great answers, but you have answered the question "When do we allow children to partake", not "Why *don't* we allow children", which was the question I asked.

I'm heading toward "Why isn't communion open to all age children?" After all, the Lord's Supper is about remembering Christ's sacrifice- I see no link anywhere about profession of faith. I see a special meal/symbol designed to remember Christ's sacrifice- why do we impose these restrictions about profession of faith?

Nice to see some activity, by the way!

Clay,

I don't believe that the doctrine of transubstantiation and the fear of children dropping the "body" and spilling the "wine" are the initial cause here. They have probably contributed, as you say. However, the original impulse for the making of an age-appropriate profession of faith is the difference between the two sacraments: baptism and the Lord's Supper. Baptism is meant to be "passive" but the Lord's Supper is about active participation -- eating and drinking and, as has now been pointed out, having at least some understanding of the "body of Christ" that is the community of God's people.

I do hope that people have read in the 1995 and 2006 and 2007 Acts of Synod the denomination wrestling with this issue and are continuing to follow the current discussions of the Faith Formation Committee.

Grace and peace,

Taking part of the Lord's Supper is a confession "the bread that we break is a communion of the body of Christ.Take,eat,remember and believe that the body of our Lord Jesus Christ was given for a complete remission of all our sins." see also "the cup of thanksgiving......"
Also:Cathechism:" ---that I,with body and soul,both in life and death,am not my own,but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ,who with his precious blood------"
This is confessing;can this be seperated from :"Confession of Faith"?
At what age can we really, totally,deep in us, comprehend this and take this on as our personal acceptance?

hello there,

i thought that i read in the spring issue of Calvin Seminary's Forum that baptized children could be admitted, i didn't realize there were restrictions on that. i've seen churches practicing this form of children communion, is that not correct?

thanks!

Why? Because allowing children to participate without a public confession of faith would nullify Lord's Day 30. In my Baptist days I have talked with people who said they had five year old children who should receive believer's baptism because they "invited Jesus into their hearts." You want 5 year olds taking communion?

I have not heard anyone address the time spent in examining one owns heart in preparation for the celebration of communion. We read quite a list of sins in the form for preparation and can a child properly examine there life as an adult? What about the infant partaking of the elements as pictured on the cover of the banner? This seems as though churches have already opened the door to infants coming to the table for the bread and wine.

I've been gone for a long time, but I'm back.  Ken, I think you nailed it- many of these things are *our* concepts, not those of our Savior.  I really like some of the reasoning in the new report.  Christianity is not a complex thing- at its heart it is very basic- and I *do* think a child can grasp it.

I would have no problem with a 5 year old participating as long as they understand what we are doing.  Through baptism they are members.

Thank you all for your comments, our church will have a meeting about this issue in a few weeks, it is a difficult thing, or is it? Just a small thing that popped into my mind, we are drinking wine (well, we use grape juice to avoid problems if a recovering alcoholic should be with us), are we breaking the law of the land if a young child drinks it, even the little bit we use? Another point, when one does profession they are full members of the church and allowed to vote, we sailed around that one by stipulating that the child was not able to vote until age 16, is this something that should be addressed?

Your question raised a valid concern to me- the legality.  I did a little research and found this:

http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(3zvzfdj5nvixxz45lj0qh155))/mileg.aspx?page=getobject&objectname=mcl-436-1703&query=on&highlight=religious%20AND%20alcohol

Section 436.1703, paragraph 11 of Michigan law states:

(11) The consumption by a minor of sacramental wine in connection with religious services at a church, synagogue, or temple is not prohibited by this act.

So, it would be perfectly legal under Michigan law.  

As for your question about the age of voting in church, the faith formation committee has this proposed change:

(Proposed Article 59c and supplement):

c. Confessing members receive all the

privileges and responsibilities of suchmembership. Privileges include but arenot limited to presentation of childrenfor infant baptism, the right to vote atcongregational meetings, and eligibilityto hold office. Responsibilities includefull participation in the work, life, andmutual discipline of the local congregationand the universal body of Christ.(supplement):Each congregation shall determine theappropriate age at which a confessingmember shall receive such privileges andresponsibilities.  I hope this helps!  The full report can be found here:  http://www.crcna.org/site_uploads/uploads/resources/synodical/FaithFormation.pdf

Thanks for the info and links

One more note to this conversation....

Since the Faith Formation Committee's proposal has not yet been acted upon (it will go to Synod 2011), the current Church Order article 59b is in effect.  It says:

b. Confessing members who have reached the age of eighteen and who have made a commitment to the creeds of the Christian Reformed Church and the responsibilities of adult membership in the church shall be accordedthe full rights and privileges of such membership. http://www.crcna.org/site_uploads/uploads/resources/2010_churchorder.pdf

Great point Kathy- none of this has yet been adopted by Synod.

We hold a two-session orientation to the Lord's Supper for any children who ask to join the congregation in celebrating communion.  We announce the sessions in the bulletin, the parents sign their kids up, we hold the two sessions on concurrent Sunday afternoons and we welcome them to the table the next time we have communion.  We ask them to answer the question, "I want to participate in the Lord's Supper because..." and then we put the answers on an insert which is in the bulletin on the day they are welcomed to the table.  Usually the sessions are made up of kids who are in Grade 4 and older since before that they are in Sunday School and don't experience communion very often.  Once they are in worship for the whole service and experience worship they start asking why they can't join in.  That's when the parents sign them up for the orientation.  We run the orientation at least once per year.  The first session focuses on the church as a family (how you join, what it means to belong, etc), and the second focuses on God's family at the table (where communion comes from, what it means, how it's done, etc.)  Enfolding our children into the life of the congregation this way has been a real blessing for us.

I've asked the question before and no one seems to want to touch it.  Are we supposed to use the front cover of the Banner some time ago which depicted an infant being given the bread & wine in celebration of the Lord's Supper as being age appropriate.  One might think this is an official endorsement from our demonination's leadership.

John,

  It is a magazine cover. It is moot to any issue on the Lord,s supper in most peoples minds. That is why you are not raising  interest with the question.

John,

I would agree with Ken but say it in a slightly different way.  Banner covers, like the covers of any magazine out there, are designed for only one purpose: to arouse interest in the reader to open up and read.  Since the denomination has studied and is continuing to study whether children may be included in one way or another, under whatever conditions, the Banner chose a picture to put in an image where we are probing, not where we have been in the past.