In our church, baptized children are welcome to the Lord’s Table.
This practice, known as child communion or paedocommunion, is a minority view in the Reformed church today. We recognize this, and yet we are humbly convinced that this is a biblically consistent and historic practice.
One of the arguments supporting this practice is evident in the place of children during covenant meals in the Old Testament. For example, during the first Passover meal, we read that “All the congregation of Israel” participated and each household was to acquire a lamb or join together with a neighboring household (Ex. 12:3–4, 6, 37). Households include children, and children indeed were present at the Passover meal, for God says in the text that they will ask, “What does this ceremony mean?” and the parents should answer, “It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, for He passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when He struck the Egyptians but spared our houses (Ex. 12:26). Children were included in the covenant meals because they are in covenant with God.
But do notice the instruction present. You must teach your children, according to their maturity, to understand what is taking place here now. And so, it is good in your homes, and even quietly at this point in the service, to ask your young sons or daughters if they’re baptized, if they love Jesus, and remind them what this is all about.
You can say something like this: This bread and wine show us Christ’s body and blood, and when we eat and drink them, He gives us His love and makes our faith strong.
So come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.
This communion meditation was given on September 7, AD 2025 at King’s Cross Church in Moscow, Idaho.