How does the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches view baptism and its practice compared to other Reformed denominations?
Executive summary
The Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC) affirms classic Reformed theology and historic confessions but uniquely permits each member congregation to decide its own stance on baptism—allowing both paedobaptist and credobaptist practices within the same communion [1]. That internal latitude produces local variability in who is baptized and who may receive the Lord’s Supper, a contrast with many traditional Reformed bodies that uniformly practice infant baptism [2].
1. CREC’s official position: confessional unity with local latitude
The CREC requires member churches to adopt foundational creeds and at least one historic Reformed confession, signaling formal alignment with Reformed theology, while explicitly allowing churches to determine their own positions on paedobaptism and related practices such as paedocommunion [1], a structural choice reflected on the denomination’s website and foundational documents [3].
2. How baptism is actually practiced inside CREC congregations
In practice, the Communion hosts both paedobaptist congregations that baptize infants and credobaptist congregations that insist on believer’s baptism, with local elders empowered to accept or decline requests for infant baptism depending on conscience and pastoral conviction [4]; some CREC pastors publicly defend welcoming baptized children to the Lord’s Supper (paedocommunion), which has been a flashpoint in online and denominational conversations [5].
3. Where CREC diverges from mainstream Reformed denominations
Most historic Reformed churches continue to maintain infant baptism as normative—baptism is treated as the sign and seal of the covenant, applied to the children of believing parents as part of church membership [2], and denominations like the Christian Reformed Church explicitly employ infant baptism alongside adult baptism [6]. By contrast, the CREC’s allowance for Reformed Baptist-style credobaptist polity places it closer to a broad coalition of Reformed convictions rather than a single, uniform practice [4] [7].
4. The theological fault-lines: baptism, communion and ecclesiology
Allowing both infant and believer’s baptism in one communion creates theological tensions: critics argue the arrangement produces incoherent ecclesiology—simultaneously upholding infant baptism in confession while permitting churches that withhold it—while supporters say pastoral accommodation and “bear[ing] with one another” is a deliberate expression of Reformed catholicity [8] [4]. The debate widens when paedocommunion is introduced, because many Reformed bodies insist on examined, professing participation in the Lord’s Supper, whereas some CREC churches practice a more family-inclusive table [5].
5. Practical consequences: membership transfers, communion participation, pastoral care
The CREC’s polity means transfers and membership are often handled with pastoral sensitivity—differences over whether a family’s children should be baptized or admitted to communion are negotiated case by case, and churches may receive families without adopting their baptismal practice or vice versa [5] [4]. That pragmatic flexibility can result in mixed practice within congregations—some children baptized by one church may receive communion in another while others do not—reflecting the CREC’s priority of accommodating varied Reformed convictions in local ministry [4].
6. Public controversies and reputational risks
The CREC’s approach has generated controversy beyond internal debate: critics and watchdog commentators have charged the communion with theological ambiguity or even heterodoxy on multiple fronts (including accusations related to baptismal theology and the Federal Vision), warnings that these internal allowances can be exploited or perceived as doctrinal weakness [8] [9]. Supporters, however, frame the communion’s stance as a principled commitment to Reformed catholicity and pastoral conscience rather than doctrinal capitulation [10].
7. Bottom line for baptismal identity
The CREC occupies a distinctive middle ground: constitutionally Reformed and confessionally rooted, yet intentionally pluralistic on baptismal practice—unlike many traditional Reformed denominations that uniformly practice infant baptism and unlike Baptist bodies that uniformly reject it, the CREC tolerates both while seeking to manage the pastoral and ecclesial consequences of that diversity [1] [2] [7].