Baptism but not \"full communion\" to people who had not had a conversion experience.-answer (a) baptism but not full communion to people who had not had a full conversion experience. the halfway covenant was introduced in puritan communities by the 1660s. because church membership (and voting) required a full conversion experience, and the second and later generations of puritans were not as religiously fervent as their settler parents, church membership began to decline. the halfway covenant allowed members who agreed to follow the teachings of the church to baptism and communion but not to full voting membership. children of full members were baptized, but if they did not report a conversion experience, their children (the grandchildren of full members) could not be baptized. later, massachusetts adopted the controversial half-way covenant of 1662, permitting children to be baptized whose grandparents had been members of the church, but whose parents were not. males baptized under the covenant could vote at town meeting when they came of age, but were not admitted to the lords supper or allowed to vote for a pastor. full church membership came with confession of faith.
