<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> The Half - Way Covenant was a form of partial - church membership adopted by the Congregational churches of colonial New England in the 1660s . The Puritan - controlled Congregational churches required evidence of a personal conversion experience before granting church membership and the right to have one's children baptized . Conversion experiences were less common among second generation colonists, and this became an issue when these unconverted adults had children of their own who were ineligible for baptism . </P> <P> The Half - Way Covenant was proposed as a solution to this problem . It allowed baptized but unconverted parents to present their own children for baptism; however, they were denied the other privileges of church membership . The Half - Way Covenant was endorsed by an assembly of ministers in 1657 and a church synod in 1662 . Nevertheless, it was highly controversial among Congregationalists with many conservatives being afraid it would lead to lower standards within the church . A number of Congregational churches split over the issue . </P>

Why did the massachusetts puritans adopt the halfway covenant
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