As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire,
so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.
- Proverbs 26:21

I heard something last night that really troubles me. It's about the way some people push for their paedocommunion convictions in their local churches.

When I write of my strong convictions about the need for ecclesiastical reformation in this area, do not assume that strong convictions translate into using obnoxious means to accomplish this end. Don't assume also that because I have strong convictions about children at the Lord's Table that I am some sort of "single issue" crusader.

I've lived with the tension between my convictions and the practice of the PCA for 20 years or more. I've also lived and ministered in churches that not only don't practice paedocommunion but don't even come close to allowing younger children to come to the Table. I've served under pastors who strongly disagreed with admitting small children. I shepherded with ruling elders who disagreed with me on this. I've regularly officiated at the Lord's Table in churches that didn't admit children until they were in their teens. I've been a member of three presbyteries in which I've had to register my exception to the Westminster standards and agree to be moderate about the way I taught my biblical convictions. And in my present congregation it took almost 10 years to walk my elders and people through all the issues. They are all mostly on board now, but we are still a PCA church and so the elders do interview and admit even the small children we receive at the Table.

This is not an issue that individuals should make obnoxious by divisive behavior in the body of Christ. After all, we are talking about the Communion Table, right? If you can't get along with other members in the local body of Christ that disagree with you, then paedocommunion ought to be the least of your worries.

Paedocommunion should not be made the pretext for leaving one's church. If you are a layperson and you have to leave your church because after much discussion and debate they will not practice paedocommunion as you would want it, then I can almost guarantee that you have acted divisively.

Do not assume that because I have strong paedocommunion convictions that I believe that God does not bless churches that don't practice it. More often than not God is more patient with us that we are with each other. Should all the young ones be at the Table eating with Jesus? Yes. If they are not at the Table, will they be cursed or irreparably harmed? No. Does Jesus love and feed his little sheep even in churches where they don't get to come to the Table? Yes.

I spend a lot of time talking with my seminary students about these kinds of concerns. It's particularly difficult for zealous young men to cool their jets when they get into a new church situation in which they perceive the need for "reformation." But genuine reformation will never come via angry young men.

"And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil" (2 Tim. 2:24).

That being the case, I want to commend to all of you another of Dr. Rayburn's lectures. This one comes from the Pre-GA Reformed Liturgy conference I sponsored in 2001. The title is Roadblocks to Liturgical Reformation. If you have strong convictions about the need for liturgical reformation in the Presbyterian church, you must listen to this talk. Listen and learn.