How Do I Know If My Child Is Ready For Communion?
Hey, Pastor Adam here!
We are going to try something new at Redemption Church starting this week (Sunday, August 10th) and wanted to give you a heads up, especially parents.
On Sunday mornings when we gather for worship, we are going to move communion to earlier in our gathering, before the message. This is an intentional and deliberate move. One of the reasons we are doing this is to allow older children to be a part of communion before they are released to Kid’s Ministry.
Even if you child is not ready to take communion, we think it is both Biblical and beneficial for your children to have the opportunity to be a part of communion and experience it first hand. This is a discipleship moment for you as a family, and we hope it provides you with the opportunity to have deep, meaningful, Gospel conversations with your family.
With this move in mind, I wanted to answer the question: How do I know if my child is ready for communion?
As parents, you are the pastors and shepherds of your home, and we feel like you are really the best person to answer that question. There is no age given in the Bible for someone to take communion, so it is hard to give an appropriate age. However, I do think there are some things that need to be evident in your child’s life before they take communion with you. We used these three questions with our boys, and they served us well.
3 Questions To Consider:
1. Has your child made a profession of faith? Has your child articulated that they are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, by Christ alone, and want to follow Jesus for the rest of their life?
2. Have you seen spiritual growth or spiritual fruit in your child’s life? In John 15:4-7, Jesus says that abiding in Him produces spiritual fruit in our lives. We are not saved by our works, there are however evidences of salvation in our lives, one of those is spiritual fruit.
3. Does your child understand what they are doing when they take communion?
Communion is way more than just a snack the people of God take when they are gathered together. Communion is one of those “thin spaces” where the Spirit of God meets with us, fills us, satisfies us, and sustains us.
At Redemption Church we believe communion is a significant and spiritual act in which we remember Jesus’ perfect life and sinless body (represented by unleavened bread), and His redemptive sacrifice and blood that paid the price for our sins (represented by grape juice) while anticipating His Triumphant return. Jesus gives this ordinance to His disciples (Luke 22:19-20), as a way to remember what He did for us, while nourishing us with His life and power to walk in joyful obedience to Him.
If your child can understand and articulate these three things, they may be ready for communion. We leave the decision up to you as the pastors and shepherds of your home.
If you wanted to take a deeper dive into this topic, here are a few linked articles:
10 Things You Should Know About Communion from 1 Corinthians 11:23-24 - By Sam Storms
How To Talk To Your Kids About Communion. By Lifeway
What is Communion? by Desiring God
How The Lord’s Supper Makes A Local Church - by 9 Marks
Grace and Peace,
Adam