This is a theological paper that our pastor originally presented at his circuit winkel in November 2011. It looks at infant communion from the Scriptures and also from within the history of the Church. To open or save the PDF document, click on the link below.
Infant and Early Communion (with Appendix)
On September 13, 2014, the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod’s Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR) released their opinion on paedocommunion (infant and child communion). This CTCR document may or may not have had anything to do with Pr Futrell’s paper on infant communion. However, their response does not refute (and in many ways even address) the exegetical points he made in his paper. You can read the CTCR’s response here: Knowing What We Seek and Why We Come.
That being stated, Pr Futrell clearly stated in his paper: If those within LC-MS were to embrace infant communion, it “is something we need to do as a church body. For if each does what is right in his own eyes, it will simply lead to liturgical chaos (as if we don’t have enough of that going on already!).” Unless infant communion is adopted by his church body, the furthest he will go is to practice what some call “early communion,” which is allowed and embraced within the liturgical practice of the Lutheran Church and the LC-MS.
