HALF-WAY COVENANT

The Half-Way Covenant was an attempt by New England Puritans to confront a serious religious crisis, a crisis of faith.

Puritans had made the arduous journey to the New World in order to establish a pure community of like-minded Christians, a "City on a Hill." Although all members of a Puritan community were expected to attend church, membership carried with it the right to vote in church matters and to take communion, and it was considered a strong indication that one would receive eternal salvation. Individuals demonstrated their worthiness for membership by testifying before the congregation that God had "sanctified" them, describing a conversion experience, or moment of revelation, that the congregation then evaluated. At the start, most Puritans had had such experiences. But as time passed, fewer and fewer of the subsequent generation of settlers could qualify for church membership.

In an attempt to shore up the decline in church membership, synods debated the questions: Who is qualified for baptism? Should the children of the saved be granted church membership as well?

In 1662 a Massachusetts synod agreed that, for all churches, a "half-way" membership status would be recognized. Adults who had been baptized as children but who had not yet experienced the conversion necessary for full membership could nonetheless have their children baptized. The parents in return were to agree to maintain the church's standards of moral conduct. Until conversion, however, these parents and their children were ineligible to vote in church affairs or take communion.

Despite the Half-Way Covenant, controversy over the issue would continue for more than a century.

See also Puritanism.