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Children in the Church

What I want to do in this article is briefly discuss the place of children in the church. In other words, how does God view our children? Are they pagans? Christians? Or something else? To begin, I want to clarify that when I speak of children, I am talking about the children of believers. Where do they stand before God? What I want to argue for in this article is that our children belong to God, members of the covenant. This is an important issue because it has huge practical implications for the church. I will not attempt an exegetical dissection of a passage, rather, I would simply like to offer some theological reflections about the place of baptized children in relation to the covenant. Although this is not an exercise in exegesis, I do have a few passages in mind as I think about this topic (Mark 10:13-16, Acts 2:38-39, Deut 5:8-10). It is clear that the God of the Bible is a covenant making God. And whenever God calls people into covenant with Him, He always includes their children. God promises to be a god to them and to their offspring. In this way, the children are both heirs of the covenant promises and stipulations. Children are real members of the covenant community, set apart from the rest of the pagan world. In fact, Jesus makes this emphatically clear in Mark 10. This is the scene where Jesus sharply rebukes his disciples for hindering children from coming to Him. The reason for His rebuke, Jesus declares, is because "the kingdom of God belongs to such as these". The reason I bring this topic up is because I want to encourage christian parents about the status of their children. Our God looks upon them with favor. We need not seek their conversion as though they are pagans until such a time as they make a profession of faith, but rather, we can be assured, because of God's faithfulness, that they are "christians". It is so easy in our day and age to plant seeds of doubt, sometimes unknowingly, in the minds of our children by our emphasis on professions of faith. Sometimes our children feel left out enough when the tray passes them by. Let us not distance them any farther. Rather, let us place our confidence in the God who has promised to be the God of our children for a thousand generations.

The Lord's Table

"The Lord's Supper is the world in miniature;

it has cosmic significance. Within it we find clues

to the meaning of all creation and all history,

to the nature of God and the nature of man,

to the mystery of the world, which is Christ.

It is not confined to the first day,

for its power fills seven. Though the table

stands at the center, its effects stretch out

to the four corners of the earth."-Peter Leithart

At the present time, my church is looking into the issue of how frequently we should observe the Lord's Table. The current practice of my church is once a month, on the second Sunday. The reason I raised the issue is because I favor a weekly observance of the Lord's supper. What I want to do briefly in this article is to give a couple of reasons supporting weekly communion. First, the Lord's supper is more than a simple memorial reminding us of what the Messiah has done for us. It includes that, but it is more. It belongs solely to the church because it is who we are. In it, we celebrate and we mourn. It is worship reiterated. It is the invisible made visible. It is our faith made tangible. For all these things and more, the supper is for us. Secondly, the Lord's table is a means of grace whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of His mediation. If this be the case that the Lord, through the supper, communicates to us His saving benefits, then wouldn't it make sense to observe the Lord's supper often? If the Lord, through the supper, strengthens our faith, confirms our election, and nurishes our souls, then wouldn't wisdom lead us to conclude that a more regular observance of such a meal is beneficial to the body of Christ?
Some may object by stating that a weekly observance will make the supper "ritualistic", become less special of an occasion, and dull. This is a valid and common objection to weekly communion. But to this point, my reply is that all good things lose its wonder after much exposure, not because those things aren't good enough but because we, the observer, are fallen and we live in a fallen world. Is it not the case that prayer and the word, which are also means of grace, often become dull and ritualistic because we engage it regularly? And yet, we wouldn't think twice about relegating them to a monthly practice.