Holy Communion & Saint Mark Children

At Saint Mark United Methodist Church, we take seriously the responsibility to teach the children of this faith community and are pleased that so many of our children participate in this important act of worship.

On those days and at worship services when the Service of Holy Communion is observed, we will provide preschool, toddler, and infant nursery care for all worship services, but you are invited to collect your child before the Communion Service begins and bring him/her to the Sanctuary to participate in Communion. Children who are in kindergarten and older remain in the Sanctuary with their grown-ups for the full service.

We urge parents, and other adults, to assist our children with participation in these services explaining the “WHYs” and “WHATs” of the Communion service, and through teaching “Table Manners (the HOW).

Take this opportunity to worship as a family, teaching your children the importance of worship...the joy of praising God through word, prayer, song, and the sacrament of Holy Communion.

To prepare a very young child for communion, share this simple story: In bible times, Jesus shared a special meal with his friends and each time they shared such a meal in the future, he asked them to remember him. Today, we remember Jesus by tasting the bread and juice of Holy Communion. Encourage child to say "I remember you, Jesus" when they pray.

For older Children, refer the child to Luke 22:7-20. Read the scripture together and encourage this memory verse, "Do this in memory of me." Luke 22:19.

There are a variety of resources available through our ministerial staff and Children’s Council and we are available to assist you in any way with this teaching opportunity.

To read and to reflect upon:

Recently, Rev. Joel Gillespie, the pastor of Covenant Fellowship Church in Greensboro, North Carolina, wrote an open letter to his congregation, reflecting his thoughts about the sacrament of Communion, and how children could be welcomed into observance of this Sacrament. Rev. Gillespie’s words and thoughts are based in scripture and in Christian church tradition. We offer this letter for your reading, study, and reflection as you accept the responsibility to teach and lead our youngest members in the way of life that Jesus taught.

"One of the things which most excites me about [this church] is the way that children of all ages are included in the life of the church. I love to hear the children sing and worship, read Scripture, participate in discussions, and of course play together. Because we try to honor the children by including them as legitimate participants in the corporate life of the fellowship, the question naturally arises as to how the children are to participate in our sharing of the Lord’s Supper.

"We think almost instinctively that before a child participates in the Lord's Supper he or she needs either to have a clear personal faith in Jesus or a clear understanding of what the elements of communion signify. But why do we think that? Do we insist that a child have a clear personal testimony before he or she sings songs of praise in public or private worship, or before the child prays to God at home. Jesus is the only mediator between God and human beings but we don't think, do we, that a little child has to understand all of that clearly before s/he prays to God in heaven? Understanding clearly the Trinity, the mediating role of the Son, the significance of the cross of Jesus Christ -- certainly these are not prerequisites for our little children as they come to God in prayer. Nor are they prerequisites for singing the praises of God in public or private worship. We do not insist that children understand all the lyrics before we invite them to sing the hymn or chorus, do we? Are we not doing right when we invite our children to worship God in various ways even before they understand some pretty important things about whom they worship?

"But communion for many of us is an exception to this principle of inviting children to worship before they clearly understand. Now why is that? The first Lord's Supper was in fact a Passover meal. This is the way Luke introduces the time Jesus spent with His disciples in the upper room:

READ: Luke 22:7

"Christian communion is to be understood as the New Covenant “version” of Old Covenant Passover. What strikes me about the fact that the Lord's Supper comes out of the Jewish celebration of Passover, is that Passover was a premier teaching time for children! Not only were children welcomed to participate in Passover, the Passover, after all, being a real meal, a ritual meal, the Passover meal seemed significantly designed to teach children about the great deeds of the Lord. It was a meal designed to give generational continuity to Israel's faith in YAHWEH. This is the way it is put in Exodus 12:24-28. I encourage you to read the entire chapter.

"The Passover was a ritual meal, a kind of reenactment of (and by this I mean not a re-sacrifice or anything like that but something which calls to memory the story of salvation) and memorial celebration of that greatest and most defining of events in Israel's history, her rescue from bondage in Egypt. Certainly Jesus wants us to make a connection between Passover and his own death. But now in the New Covenant the elements of the meal point not to the Exodus events and the Passover lamb, but to the broken body and shed blood of the Lord Jesus, to Christ our Passover. Indeed the Old Covenant Exodus and Passover prefigured the death of the Lamb of God on the cross of Calvary which achieved our rescue from bondage to sin and death. The meaning of the Old Testament Passover is fulfilled and completed in the atoning death of Jesus. Christ is the once for all Passover Lamb.

"In the Passover, the children ate the meal like everyone else, and when a question came to them about what was meant by the various "elements" they asked their parents to explain. One gets the idea that the children were being set up just for that purpose, and that one of the main reasons for having the ritual meal was continually to connect the new generation to the defining events of the old.

"I encourage you to read 1 Corinthians 11:17-22. Try to see the problem Paul is dealing with. It is in the context of that particular problem that Paul gives his strong directives in verses 27-33. The question we take to that passage that has relevance for children and communion is this: Does Paul's statement about "recognizing the body of the Lord" refer in context to understanding the symbolism about Christ's crucified body, or does it refer to understanding the church as the one body of Christ? If the former is what Paul meant, then partakers of communion would be required to have clear understanding of the symbolic nature of the Lord's supper. But even if this is Paul's meaning, it might not have bearing since what is required of adults is not always required of children. My own opinion is that Paul is referring to the sins of disunity and division and gluttony with respect to the Lord's Supper.

"As a parent, as a pastor, as part of a local fellowship, I am interested in children and their worship. I do not want to deny what may be to their benefit, nor do I want to profane the true worship of the church. Our approach and policy at [this church] remains this: We leave it to parents to decide whether their children should participate. Parents, talk to your children about the Lord's Supper beforehand and let them know what is expected of them. Read with them from any of the resources listed.

"Come to communion just as you come to worship of any kind. It's not really any different. We come to commemorate and celebrate what God has done for us in Christ. We take our sin and guilt to God and we receive God’s forgiveness and cleansing. Communion is a happy occasion. It is the good news in visual form. It symbolizes what God has done and promises to do for us as we come to Jesus in repentance and faith. It is a corporate affair, a meal shared by us as a body, as Christ's body, and we come respecting the body and seeking its good and its unity."

Click here for an article published by the United Methodist Church which explains the United Methodist denomination's understanding of Communion and its role in corporate worship.