Is a child allowed to take part in communion (The Lord’s Supper)?

Question:

I greet you in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Dear pastor, I would like to know if a child can take part in communion. Could you answer this question so that I know what to teach the community I am a pastor to?

The Moldova Crestina website offers many articles about the Lord’s Supper. I will not explain the importance of the communion, but to answer your question, we need to remember…

What the Lord’s Supper is

This act was established by Jesus the night before He was arrested.

Now when the hour came, he took his place at the table, along with the apostles. He said to them, I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover meal with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will never again eat one until it finds its fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and said, Take this and share it among yourselves. For I tell you, from now on I will never drink the product of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” Then he took a loaf of bread, gave thanks, broke it in pieces, and handed it to them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you. Keep on doing this in memory of me.” He did the same with the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, poured out for you (Luke 22:14-20)

That night when our Lord Jesus was with His disciples, Paul wasn’t converted yet. Some years later though, the Bible says he received instructions about the Lord’s Supper from Jesus Himself.

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you—how the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took a loaf of bread, gave thanks for it, and broke it in pieces, saying, This is my body that is for you. Keep doing this in memory of me.” He did the same with the cup after the supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. As often as you drink from it, keep doing this in memory of me.”  For as often as you eat this bread and drink from this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks from the cup in an unworthy manner will be held responsible for the Lord’s body and blood. A person must examine himself and then eat the bread and drink from the cup. For the one who eats and drinks without recognizing the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That’s why so many of you are weak and sick and a considerable number are dying. (1 Corinthians 11:23-30)

The Lord’s Supper is a solemn act that has a great importance in the Christian life. The communion is a solemn remembrance of the New Covenant that every child of God entered by faith. When we eat the bread and drink from the cup, we remember the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus brought for us at Golgotha. Of course we ask ourselves…

Can a child take part in communion?

No one can keep memory of a covenant that he himself is not a part of. Only those who are part of the New Covenant can eat the bread and drink from the cup. To put it differently, only a person who lives the New Covenant has the right to take part in communion.

In Evangelical churches people who did not repent and confirmed their decision through baptism are not allowed to take part in the Lord’s Supper. I think it is a wise decision, if we take into account that..

… the one who eats and drinks eats and drinks judgment on himself. That’s why so many of you are weak and sick and a considerable number are dying (1 Corinthians 11:29-30)

Until a person reaches the age when he can distinguish between bad and good, until the day he can repent knowingly and then confess his faith through baptism he is not allowed to take part in communion.

Let us teach the children the Word of God

True faith comes from listening the Word of God (Romans 10:17). If we want our children to become New covenant believers, then we have to teach them the Word of God. As servants of God or as parents we must not rush things that God Himself does not.

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven. He has made everything beautiful in its time: also he has set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God has done from the beginning even to the end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1,11)

May God help us plant the seed of truth in our children so that in His time it will bring the fruit of true repentance!