Teaching Children about the Lord’s Supper

The elders of our small church convened many years ago to examine our seven-year-old son for admittance to the Lord’s Table. I sat behind his right shoulder as he fielded numerous questions about the Christian faith and his grasp of the sacraments. Then one of the elders asked, “Young man, when we eat the bread and drink the cup, are we eating the literal body of Jesus Christ? Are we drinking His physical blood?” Our son paused for a moment. He turned slowly as he looked back over his shoulder at me with widened eyes, his face crinkled in perplexity, and then he faced the elders again as he resolutely shouted, “No!” The good elders heartily affirmed his rejection of the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation.

This scenario, though varied as to time and circumstance, has been reenacted for hundreds of years in Reformed churches. While Scripture does not provide a specific age for partaking of the Lord’s Supper, the historic and widespread agreement has been that a child’s participation requires a credible profession of faith and understanding of the sacrament. Question 177 of the Westminster Larger Catechism says that while baptism is to be administered “but once . . . and that even to infants,” the Lord’s Supper is different. Participating in the supper by faith serves as “spiritual nourishment to the soul, and to confirm our continuance and growth in him, and that only to such as are of years and ability to examine themselves.” Faith is nourished through the sacrament only as the gospel is preached and believed. Read More

In the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion historic Anglicanism adopts a Reformed view of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. It rejects the both the Lutheran doctrine that with the sacrament of Holy Communion God imparts the faith needed to receive the blessings of that sacrament and the Roman Catholic doctrine that Christ is substantially present in the consecrated bread and wine of the sacrament . In order to benefit from receiving the sacrament of Holy Communion, it teaches that the communicant must receive the sacrament rightly, that is, with a repentant heart, charity toward others, and a vital faith. In this view infants and small children are not appropriate recipients of the sacrament of Holy Communion. While this view does not exclude children from receiving the sacrament of Holy Communion before they are confirmed, it does require the children's minister to determine whether they are able to receive the sacrament rightly before admitting them to the Lord's Table. While it would be hoped that all who are presented to the bishop for confirmation are able to receive the sacrament rightly, this has in the past and to this day not always been the case. Confirmation - the act of laying on of hands as an expression of goodwill with prayer for the daily increase of the Holy Spirit - has become separated from the profession of faith.