The Real Test for Paedocommunion

The General Assembly of the PCA has now taken a strong stand against paedocommunion. But the practice of communing baptized children faces greater challenges than just this kind of opposition. Churches that practice paedocommunion (as a good number in the CREC do) face their own challenge to the practice, a challenge that arises from within.

It is not possible to offer communion to children “as such,” expecting them to remain there. No, children grow up, and when they do so they are either faithful or they are not. They either continue to walk with Christ, or they do not. So the real test for paedocommunion churches (now that enough time has elapsed for many recipients of communion to grow up) is what they will do about those who walk away from the faith. Paedocommunion occurs in time.

If a child who has been communing since he was two rebels against the Lord when he is seventeen, then the church must discipline him, just as they would any other member. If the church flinches when it comes to this point, thinking to themselves “he is just a kid,” then they are granting the force of the argument presented by anti-paedocommunists who said, fifteen years earlier, that “he’s just a kid.” In short, there is a difference between practicing paedocommunion and believing in it. If a church refuses to discipline a wayward member who grew up receiving communion, then it doesn’t matter how often they have offered the elements to children — they don’t really believe in what they are doing.

At the same time, there are some logistical issues that have to be worked out as well. Some churches, such as ours, reckon membership by household. This is what has enabled us to maintain our baptismal cooperation agreement, but it creates some practical difficulties as children grow up, move out, go off to college, or marry. Now what? Obviously, if a child rebels against seven of the ten commandments while still living at home, the church must practice discipline. But what happens if a kid goes off to college, majors in sociology, and starts to drift away from the faith by his junior year? That is a little more complicated.

When adult members move away from our community, we charge them to find a new church within six months so that we can transfer them. If they do not, we strongly encourage them again to find a church, but if they do not, we drop them from our rolls. We need to do something similar with children of the congregation who grow up and move away. The Scriptures say that the shepherds of a congregation must “give an account,” and so churches that commune members of member households must come up with a mechanism that enables them to keep track of those who have grown up in their midst.

My suggestion would be that churches in this position ask each individual to reaffirm their family’s vows when they reach the age of twenty. Up to that point they are considered members of member household. After that point they should be considered individual members. The reason for the age of twenty is that in Scripture this appears to be the age when young people are reckoned to have entered into their grown estate. This is the age when men could be mustered for the army (Num. 1:3). It is the same age when they paid the temple tax (Ex. 30:13). This is also the age when the Levites could begin their labors (1 Chron. 23:24). This is a good age for us to assume that a young person is competent to manage his own affairs.

One last point. Discipline of young people must never occur in a vacuum. Most of the situations I have seen include the necessity of disciplining the parents in some measure as well. This is often awkward and difficult because by this point, the rebellion of the child is often much more glaring and obvious, and the parents are wringing their hands and saying they did everything they could. You are often dealing with a big mess, but discipline of young people should never be treated as though it were a stand-alone phenomenon. That is a separate subject that cannot be treated here, but it should at least be acknowledged.