Half-Way Covenant facts for kids
The Half-Way Covenant was a special rule for church membership in the Congregational churches of colonial New England during the 1660s. These churches were led by Puritans. To become a full church member, Puritans usually needed to show they had a personal "conversion experience." This meant feeling a deep change in their heart and soul, showing they were truly devoted to God.
The problem was that fewer people in the second generation of colonists were having these strong conversion experiences. This became an issue when these adults, who hadn't had a conversion, had children of their own. Their children couldn't be baptized because their parents weren't full church members.
The Half-Way Covenant was a solution to this. It allowed baptized parents, even if they hadn't had a conversion experience, to have their own children baptized. However, these parents couldn't enjoy all the other benefits of full church membership, like taking part in the Lord's Supper.
This new rule was approved by church leaders in 1657 and again in 1662. But it caused a lot of arguments among Puritans. Many worried it would lower the church's standards. Some churches even split because of it.
Some historians believe the Half-Way Covenant showed that Puritanism in New England was changing. It moved away from the idea that a church should only be for people who had a clear conversion experience. It also led to more disagreements among Congregationalists about church practices. Over time, some churches became more open, even becoming Unitarian. The First Great Awakening, a big religious revival, was partly a reaction against the Half-Way Covenant.
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What's in a Name?
The name Half-Way Covenant was actually a teasing or negative term. People who didn't like the new rule used it to describe the practice. Those who supported it called it "large Congregationalism," meaning a more open and inclusive church.
Why the Change Was Needed
In the 1620s and 1630s, colonial New England was settled by Puritans. They believed God wanted them to build a holy society, following a special agreement or covenant with Him. This covenant was key to their beliefs about salvation, the church, and how society should work.
Puritan churches were formed through special church covenants. They believed every church member should be a "visible saint." This meant someone who understood Christian teachings, lived a good life, and could also share their personal conversion experience. Puritans thought this experience showed that a person was "regenerated" (reborn spiritually) and chosen by God for salvation.
To make sure only these "regenerated" people joined the church, new members had to tell their personal conversion stories to the whole congregation. If accepted, they could join the church. This gave them the right to take part in the Lord's Supper and have their children baptized.
This practice of sharing conversion stories became common by 1640. Puritans felt it helped their churches be a better reflection of God's true church.
As Calvinists, Puritans didn't believe that sacraments (like baptism) could cause conversion. They saw sacraments as "seals of the covenant." They confirmed a person's election, which God had already decided. While children couldn't be assumed to be converted, it was believed that children of church members were part of the church covenant. They had the right to be baptized. When these baptized children grew up, they were expected to have their own conversion experience. Then they could become full members and take part in the Lord's Supper.
By the 1650s and 1660s, the children of the first generation of Puritans were growing up and having their own families. But many in this second generation had not had a conversion experience. Because of this, their children could not receive infant baptism or join the church covenant. As this group grew, Puritans worried that the church's influence would weaken. They feared their ideal of a pure church was clashing with their goal of a society united with God.
A New Idea Emerges
The idea of the Half-Way Covenant wasn't new. As early as 1634, a church in Dorchester, Massachusetts, asked if a grandchild could be baptized even if the parents weren't full members. The answer was yes.
Some important ministers disagreed on this. Thomas Hooker and John Davenport believed only children of full members should be baptized. But George Phillips thought all descendants of converts should be part of the church.
In the 1640s, a movement led by Robert Child complained that children were being kept from church benefits. This led to the Cambridge Synod of 1646. This meeting created the Cambridge Platform, which set rules for Congregational churches. An early version of the Platform said baptism was open to all descendants of converted members, as long as they didn't live in sin. But this statement was removed from the final version. Important figures like Charles Chauncy, who later became president of Harvard College, opposed it.
In 1650, Samuel Stone of Hartford, Connecticut, called for a synod to settle the issue. He warned that Connecticut churches would start using "half-way" rules if a decision wasn't made. Between 1654 and 1656, churches in Salem, Dorchester, and Ipswich began using the half-way system.
The rules of the Half-Way Covenant were officially supported by a meeting of ministers in Boston on June 4, 1657. This meeting was called by the governments of Connecticut and Massachusetts. Plymouth Colony didn't send delegates, and New Haven refused to join, wanting to stick to the old ways.
The assembly suggested that children of unconverted but baptized adults could be baptized. This was allowed if their parents publicly agreed with Christian beliefs. They also had to promise to follow the church's rules in a ceremony called "owning the baptismal covenant." In this ceremony, parents would "give up themselves and their children to the Lord." These baptized but unconverted members could not take part in the Lord's Supper. They also couldn't vote on church matters, like choosing ministers. They could only do these things after they had a conversion experience.
These suggestions caused a lot of debate. The Massachusetts General Court then called a new synod in 1662. This synod included ministers and regular church members. Like the 1657 assembly, the 1662 Synod approved the Half-Way Covenant. Jonathan Mitchell was a strong supporter. President Chauncey led the group that opposed it.
Under Congregational church rules, each church decided whether to accept the Half-Way Covenant. Some churches rejected it and kept the old strict rules for many years. Other churches went even further. They allowed all infants to be baptized, even if their parents or grandparents hadn't been baptized.
How It Was Accepted
Even though the conservatives lost the vote in the synod, they kept protesting publicly. Both sides wrote many pamphlets arguing their points. Chauncey, Davenport, and Increase Mather wrote against the synod's decision. Mitchell, John Allen, and Richard Mather defended it. Eventually, Increase Mather changed his mind and supported the Half-Way Covenant.
Critics worried that the Half-Way Covenant would end the Puritan goal of having only converted members in the church. They feared it would either create two permanent groups of members (full and half-way) or lead to a "slippery slope" where unconverted people would eventually get full access to the Lord's Supper.
Supporters argued that denying baptism to the grandchildren of first-generation members was like saying the second-generation parents had given up their church membership. They felt this was unfair, especially since many of these parents were regular churchgoers. Supporters believed the Half-Way Covenant was a "middle way." It avoided letting ungodly people into the church while also keeping unconverted adults connected to the church through baptism. They argued that this way, more people would stay under the church's guidance and authority.
By the 1660s, churches in Connecticut were divided. Some used the Half-Way Covenant, some completely rejected it, and some allowed anyone to be a full member. Because the clergy (ministers) were divided, the Connecticut government decided in 1669 to allow both inclusive and exclusive baptism practices. It also allowed churches that were divided to split. Several churches did split over the Half-Way Covenant, including those in Hartford, Windsor, and Stratford. One minister, Abraham Pierson, even moved his congregation to New Jersey to avoid its influence.
Churches in Massachusetts were slower to accept these new baptism rules. Regular church members were also divided. This led to splits as congregations argued over the synod's recommendations. A famous example is the split of Boston's First Church in 1667. After their pastor, John Wilson (who supported the Half-Way Covenant), died, John Davenport was called as the new pastor. This led 28 unhappy members to leave and form Third Church, also known as Old South Church. For 14 years, these two churches did not communicate. The conflict affected other Congregational churches in Massachusetts. Those against the Half-Way Covenant favored First Church, and those who approved favored Third Church.
Until 1676, opponents of the Half-Way Covenant in Massachusetts stopped it from being adopted in all major churches. That year, Massachusetts faced a series of crises, including King Philip's War (1675–1678) and the Salem Witch Trials (1693). Many Puritans believed God was punishing the colony for not bringing more people into the church covenant. By the end of the 17th century, four out of five Congregational churches in Massachusetts had adopted the Half-Way Covenant. Some even started allowing half-way members to take part in the Lord's Supper.
As the Half-Way Covenant became common, it was normal for New England churches to have many regular churchgoers who were considered Christians but had never claimed a conversion experience. Often, these "half-way" members outnumbered full members. In 1708, one estimate in Massachusetts said there were four half-way members for every full member.
Moving On From the Covenant
The Half-Way Covenant was used by three-fourths of New England's churches into the 1700s. But people still argued about it. Some wanted to go back to the strict old rules. Others wanted to remove all barriers to church membership.
Northampton pastor Solomon Stoddard (1643–1729) disagreed with both the Half-Way Covenant and the strict rules. He believed that the Lord's Supper was a "converting ordinance." This meant it could help people experience conversion. Stoddard thought all citizens should take part in the Lord's Supper.
Historian Sydney E. Ahlstrom writes that during the First Great Awakening (1734–1745), the idea of having only "regenerate" (converted) church members was renewed. Stoddard's ideas and the Half-Way Covenant were questioned. Jonathan Edwards, Stoddard's grandson, was important in challenging both. He believed that baptism and the Lord's Supper were only for "visible and professing saints." People who opposed the Awakening saw Edwards' views as a threat to families and society, which they felt the Half-Way system supported.
The Great Awakening created different religious groups in New England. Each had different ideas about the church covenant. In this new environment, the Half-Way system stopped being a way to keep religious and social unity. The "New Light" followers of Edwards continued to insist that the church should only be made up of converted saints.
More liberal Congregationalists, especially in Boston, rejected the need for a specific conversion experience. They came to believe the Lord's Supper was just a memorial (a way to remember Jesus), not something that caused conversion. They felt that separating full members from half-way members was "undemocratic" and old-fashioned. These liberal ideas eventually led to Unitarianism and the creation of a separate American Unitarian denomination in the 19th century.
Puritan Decline or Growth?
Some historians see the Half-Way Covenant as the start of a decline in New England's churches. Historian Perry Miller believed it was the final step in Congregationalism changing from a religious ideal to a more formal system. In this view, personal salvation became a private matter. Churches became satisfied with just outward appearances of faith.
Historian Sydney Ahlstrom writes that the covenant itself wasn't proof of decline. But it did show that churches made only of converted "saints" were a thing of the past. Historian Francis Bremer says it weakened the unity of Congregational churches. The bitter arguments over its adoption also led to less respect for Puritan ministers.
However, historian Robert G. Pope questioned this "myth of decline." He argued that what was called decline was actually the "maturation" of Congregational churches. They were moving away from being a very strict, exclusive group. Pope and Edmund Morgan found that many second-generation colonists were very careful about their faith. They had conversion experiences similar to their parents, but they often doubted if their own experiences were good enough. Pope and Morgan think this carefulness, rather than a lack of faith, led to fewer full church members.
Historian Mark Noll writes that by keeping the younger generation officially within the church, the Half-Way Covenant actually helped preserve New England's Puritan society. It also kept conversion as the standard for full church membership. Because it was widely adopted, most New Englanders remained connected to the church until the First Great Awakening. This event truly marked the end of the Puritan era.
