On the first Sunday in February Fr Simon Atkinson, the head teacher at the Parochial School, will be preaching to us about the question of admitting children to communion before Confirmation. The PCC discussed this last Autumn, because our receiving the Children’s Charter from the diocese in recognition of our children’s work requires us to consider this topic. We now need to consult as widely as we can with members of the congregation to see whether this is something we might adopt as parish policy. What does it entail and what are the issues involved?
In the early church when the head of a household was converted it often meant that his whole household would also be converted and baptised by the bishop – adults and children together. What we now think of as separate services of baptism and confirmation were all part of the same service of full admission to the church including the reception of communion.
As the church grew it became impossible for bishops to conduct this service in all the churches that had sprung up. In the Orthodox or eastern churches they delegated everything to the priest so that to this day orthodox children are baptised and confirmed all at once and can receive communion (bread and wine mixed on a spoon) straight away.
In the west Bishops held onto the rite of confirmation so the service was split up; children were baptized by the parish priest and bishops would confirm them in later years when they had reached ‘the age of discretion.’. Even so because baptism was regarded as the significant act of admission children were able to receive communion as soon as they were old enough to take it seriously (about 6-8) and confirmation followed at 12+. At the reformation some Protestant churches linked first communion with confirmation as we have always done in the Church of England.
All this is only a rather rough summary but it does show the degree of confusion connected with this whole subject so that we have to look for some basic principles underlying the confusion.
With the separation of the two rites it became possible for the view to emerge that baptism is a provisional membership of the church awaiting an informed decision by the individual at confirmation, but such a view is unfortunate for various reasons. It makes confirmation seem more important than baptism which was never intended to be the case and it also makes it seem as though our relationship with God depends on understanding the nature of faith and the significance of holy communion, which rather undermines the idea of God’s free and generous grace which receives us into the body of Christ without having as it were to pass an exam.
The point we should start from is the belief that God welcomes everyone irrespective of any conditions; and that baptism is a sign of that free and loving welcome even if we’re too young to understand the words. though we are never too young to be loved. Baptism is also a sign of membership of the church just as participation in the eucharist is. We would never say that children were too young to eat at the family table (though Victorians with nannies did) so with communion we want to say that as soon as children have learnt how to behave at table they should receive. At the same time of course we believe that children should be part of an ongoing education programme as a recognised part of their membership of the church. To be a Christian means entering upon the experience of life long learning. Adults ought to recognise this too but part of the problem in the idea that we get confirmed ‘when we are old enough to understand’ means that adult Christians often fail to take seriously the idea that we have to go on learning all our lives.
The issue is also confused by the fact that we have a rather unclear view about what difference baptism really makes to us. In the past Christians baptised babies partly because they were worried about what would happen to them if they died unbaptised; they worried less about the free and informed choice of the individual which is what often worries the modern parent, so that you will often hear parents say “We’re not having our baby baptized – we will leave him to make up his own mind when he’s old enough’. In the past parents would also worry about the eternal destiny of those who left the church (betrayed their baptism) as adults, which we worry far less about because we are also very confused about eternal life having any strings attached. A major part of our problem is that we have not decided how much seriously depends on being a Christian – how crucial is it?
These are just some of the points for discussion in relation to this subject. The decisions we might make are these:
● Should we allow children to receive communion after a short course of preparation when they reach the age of 6 or 7? Should we then arrange for their confirmation from the age of 12 and above as the conclusion of a course in which they learn more seriously about what it means to be an adult Christian. Doing that will mean that we also have to devise a much more serious programme for teenage participation in church life – which will in turn require the adults to ‘set a good example’! In the case of unconfirmed adults we would also admit them to communion after brief preparation but then strongly encourage them to be confirmed as well. In such a situation we would have to explore with adults and teenagers alike the appropriate incentives for confirmation.
● Should we resolve the issue of children’s earlier reception of communion by confirming children at the age of 8 (the youngest age at which our Bishop allows confirmation)?
● Should we keep to our present policy of confirming children from the age of 10? This would not preclude developing a programme for young people’s greater involvement in church life.
After Fr Simon has preached to us about the subject we shall arrange an open meeting at which further questions can be asked and then take the subject back to the PCC for a final decision. The Deanery Synod will also be discussing this subject on March 1st so we shall be able to learn there about the experience of other churches which have adopted the first proposal above.
In the meantime if you have a view on this subject please contact me or Mother Emma – we welcome your views.
With my love and prayers,