Children in Worship with Special Reference to Holy Communion
Any understanding of this subject must begin with Baptism. The matter is developed against the acceptance of the centrality of Holy Communion, which involved faith and understanding. The practice of catechising, seeming to emphasize knowledge, left understanding out. Hearing the Word is not exclusively an intellectual exercise; Communion is a means of grace not an educational instrument. Church requires a profession of faith and knowledge of doctrines and ordinances, but should this be identified with the point of admission to Communion for the first time? No defence of infant Baptism based on the assumption that faith is irrelevant to it, but this is the faith of the Church and of the parents; this should be applied to Communion also. The article concludes that children have a legitimate place in Communion.