<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (May 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> The Half - Way Covenant is a form of partial church membership created within the Congregational churches of colonial New England in 1662 . It was promoted in particular by the Reverend Solomon Stoddard, who felt that the people of the English colonies were drifting away from their original religious purpose . First - generation settlers were beginning to die out, while their children and grandchildren often expressed less religious piety, and more desire for material things . </P> <P> Full membership in the tax - supported Puritan church required an account of a conversion experience, and only persons in full membership could have their own children baptized . Second and third generations, and later immigrants, did not have the same conversion experiences . These individuals were thus not accepted as members despite leading otherwise pious and upright Christian lives . </P> <P> In response, the Half - Way Covenant provided a partial church membership for the children and grandchildren of church members . Those who accepted the Covenant and agreed to follow the creed within the church could participate in the Lord's supper . Crucially, the half - way covenant provided that the children of holders of the covenant could be baptized in the church . These partial members, however, couldn't accept communion or vote . </P>

The half way covenant was created by the puritan hierarchy to