During its meeting at Trinity Christian College, June 12-17, 2010, the Synod of the CRC approved the following guiding principle for the Faith Formation Committee in its work, but also a guide for all local congregations:
All baptized members who come with age- and ability-appropriate faith in Jesus Christ are welcome to the Lord’s Table and called to obey the scriptural commands about participation (e.g. to “examine themselves,” to “discern the body,” to “proclaim the Lord’s death,” to “wait for others”) in an age- and ability-appropriate way, under the supervision of the elders. The elders have responsibility to nurture in the congregation grateful and obedient participation through encouragement, instruction and accountability.
The following statements clarify the guiding principle above:
a. A formal public Profession of Faith prior to participation in the Lord’s Supper is not required by Scripture or the confessions.
b. A formal public Profession of Faith is a vital practice for faith formation and is one pastoral approach to consider prior to participation in the Lord’s Supper.
c. Professing faith regularly in and outside of corporate worship is a natural practice for lifelong faith formation which the church should encourage, enhance and express.
I’m interested in hearing how this strikes you. How will it help you in ministry in your congregation? What concerns do you have?
Comments
I am so very grateful for this decision. My only concern is that I have found that my leadership is most comfortable relying on criterea. For example, using the age of 10 as a cutoff point instead of assessing each individuals readiness. I was wondering in any other churches run into this and if strict critereas are bing used?
At our last Elders meeting, the topic of baptized children taking communion, without having made profession of faith, was a lengthy agenda item. We talked about the issues of understanding and appropriate age, help and guidance for parents in discerning readiness for their child, how involved the Elder should be in "approving" a child's understanding of communion.
We are concerned about profession of faith becoming less important and how to guard against that. Our desire is to gather information from other CRC churches who already are including young children (or considering it) at the Lord's Table. How have you informed and educated your congregations? What criteria has worked for your families?
Thanks for any input.
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