Should kids be able to take communion? I am sure a lot of profound stuff has been written about this over the last couple thousand years. What has been written and said? I am not sure. But my wife thinks we should include the children, so that sounds good to me. (She’s close to God, extremely intelligent, and also a seminary student.)

I thought I’d talk to the kids and teens in our group ahead of time and get their preferences. So before small group started I went down in the basement (where they had all headed) and ask which of them wanted to participate in communion. The three teen girls there at that time all wanted to. But an 8-year old girl said, “I’ve taken it before and I don’t want to again.” The other grade school kids sided with her. Another teen girl and an 11-year old boy arrived a little later and they both decided to also take communion.

We started with all the adults, kids and teens together in the family room doing our icebreaker and two worship songs. Then we all talked about what baptism and communion mean. Following that I dismissed the kids that wanted to leave to go play in the basement.

Communion was cool. First we took time to let God examine our hearts and to bring anything we needed to him. Then we passed the homemade bread to each other saying, “The body of Christ was broken for you.” Each person broke off a piece. Then we passed the cup of juice saying “the blood of Christ was shed for you” to the person next to us. As we did, that person would dip their piece of bread in the juice and then eat it. (During this time the three kids in the basement were getting kind of loud so someone went and ask them to be quieter.) Immediately following the passing of the bread and cup, we prayed and were quiet and listened for words from God. People shared. Then the four teen girls headed to the living room to pray for each other, the women stayed in the family room for ministry time, and the men and the 11-year old boy went to the dining room to pray. Everyone joined together later for snacks in the kitchen.

What thoughts, advice or questions do you have for kids and communion or about celebrating communion in small group?