Dear HLPC family,
Beginning Sunday, August 17th (not August 10th as previously announced), I will be teaching a Communicants’ Class for our church. Just what is that? A Communicants’ Class is intended to help prepare young people in our church who have expressed a clear faith in Christ to take the Lord’s Supper and thus become “communing members” of HLPC.
We believe that the children of one or both believing parents are to be considered members of the church as covenant children. We find that belief rooted in the Biblical doctrine of the covenant that begins in the book of Genesis. This is why we apply the covenant sign of baptism to infants as we will do this upcoming Sunday during worship.
While baptism is a sign of entrance into the covenant community, the Church, the Lord’s Supper, is a sign and means of nurture. A communicants’ class reviews what is a faith commitment to Christ and talks about what it means to take the Lord’s Supper. We want to help our children fulfill the Biblical requirement that they be able to examine themselves and be able to discern or understand the body of Christ represented in this sacrament (see I Corinthians 11:27-28).
Who should be in this class? Kids who can express clearly what is the gospel- who Jesus is and what He has done for us. Kids who are asking questions and expressing a desire to take the Lord’s Supper. While we don’t impose an arbitrary minimum age for this class, this is a serious step and young people should possess a proper sense of the importance of what we are doing when we think about and study such things.
If you have any questions, please let me know. Again, the class will begin Sunday, August 17th and will meet in my office during School of Discipleship.
Your Pastor,
Paul