Should your kids take communion?

Something new starts next weekend. We are setting up a station for families to take communion together on the same weekend communion is offered in adult church. We did this because we realized that unless kids were going to "Big Church", they were never taking communion.

Should they?

The short answer to that is yes, every Christian should take communion. As Protestants, we believe it is one of two ordinances Jesus left to us, the other being baptism. And there is ample evidence that the earliest Christians took his command seriously, that receiving "the Lord's supper" was a regular part of their worship life.

Does that include kids? It should. If we believe kids are capable of making the decision to follow Christ, and to signify that decision through baptism, why would we bar them from taking communion?

Likewise, the same things that would bar or disqualify someone from baptism would be the same reasons for them not to take communion - but age isn't necessarily one of those:

• Not a believing Christian
• Not able to comprehend what the act means or symbolizes
• Doing it under compulsion and not freely choosing it

You may have grown up in a more ritualistic church, where communion was a more central activity in the worship service, and that background might cause you to have strong feelings - one way or the other - about kids receiving communion.

• On the one hand, communion for you may have been just "what you did" without really understanding why, and you don't want it to become an empty, legalistic gesture
• Or, your church may have taught communion as a means of grace, and you want your child to clearly understand that grace comes through faith, not the performance of a ritual (read further for more on that)
• Or, maybe communion (and first communion instruction) was a big deal in your church, and you want your kid to have the same thing.

So, kids should take communion with you as long as the following are true:

1. They understand that communion (like baptism) is something we do to remember. It doesn't produce anything in and of itself.
2. What we remember with communion is Jesus' last supper with his disciples, where he told them to remember him whenever they ate the meal of bread and wine. The bread represents Jesus' body, broken (killed) for us. The wine (we use grape juice) represents Jesus' blood, which was shed for the forgiveness of sins.
3. Communion is something Christians celebrate together, to remind ourselves that what unifies us is Christ and his sacrifice. (Taking communion doesn't make us "more holy" or "more spiritual". It's a "we" thing, not a "me" thing.)
4. Communion isn't driven by feelings. We might "feel" closer to God because of the act of taking communion, and of meditating on the meaning of Christ's sacrifice. But we don't necessarily "feel" anything, and just because you don't "feel" something doesn't make it less significant.
5. On the other hand, communion should never be done "just because it's what Christians do." Ritual for ritual's sake, without understanding, is never good.

If your child considers themselves a Christian and part of the body of Christ, there is no reason why they shouldn't receive communion. I wouldn't worry too much that they don't "fully" understand it, because who among us exhaustively understands and appreciates the cross? Instead, make it your goal that as your kids grow up, they'll understand the importance of the cross more and more. Regularly taking communion and being invited to reflect on its meaning is a great way to make that happen.