diff --git a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/AbstractConsumerEndpointParser.java b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/AbstractConsumerEndpointParser.java
index 4dfba049a7..7b34ca6855 100644
--- a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/AbstractConsumerEndpointParser.java
+++ b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/AbstractConsumerEndpointParser.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ package org.springframework.integration.config.xml;
 
 import org.w3c.dom.Element;
 
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanFactory;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.config.BeanDefinitionHolder;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinition;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionBuilder;
@@ -75,7 +76,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractConsumerEndpointParser extends AbstractBeanDefinit
 		String handlerBeanName = BeanDefinitionReaderUtils.registerWithGeneratedName(handlerBeanDefinition, parserContext.getRegistry());
 		builder.addPropertyReference("handler", handlerBeanName);
 		String inputChannelName = element.getAttribute(inputChannelAttributeName);
-		if (!parserContext.getRegistry().containsBeanDefinition(inputChannelName)) {
+		if (!((BeanFactory) parserContext.getRegistry()).containsBean(inputChannelName)) {
 			BeanDefinitionBuilder channelDef = BeanDefinitionBuilder.genericBeanDefinition(
 					IntegrationNamespaceUtils.BASE_PACKAGE + ".channel.DirectChannel");
 			BeanDefinitionHolder holder = new BeanDefinitionHolder(channelDef.getBeanDefinition(), inputChannelName);
diff --git a/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/ContextHierarchyTests-child.xml b/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/ContextHierarchyTests-child.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c1ec03c885
--- /dev/null
+++ b/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/ContextHierarchyTests-child.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<beans:beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration"
+	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+	xmlns:beans="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
+	xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd
+			http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration/spring-integration-1.0.xsd">
+
+	<channel id="output">
+		<queue/>
+	</channel>
+
+	<chain id="chain" input-channel="input" output-channel="output">
+		<service-activator ref="testBean" method="store"/>
+	</chain>
+
+	<beans:bean id="testBean" class="org.springframework.integration.config.TestBean"/>
+
+</beans:beans>
diff --git a/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/ContextHierarchyTests-parent.xml b/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/ContextHierarchyTests-parent.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6c34793c6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/ContextHierarchyTests-parent.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<beans:beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration"
+	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+	xmlns:beans="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
+	xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd
+			http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration/spring-integration-1.0.xsd">
+
+	<channel id="input"/>
+
+</beans:beans>
diff --git a/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/ContextHierarchyTests.java b/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/ContextHierarchyTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8d664d0bb9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/ContextHierarchyTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2002-2009 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.springframework.integration.config.xml;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import org.springframework.beans.DirectFieldAccessor;
+import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;
+import org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext;
+
+/**
+ * @author Mark Fisher
+ */
+public class ContextHierarchyTests {
+
+	private ApplicationContext parentContext;
+
+	private ApplicationContext childContext;
+
+
+	@Before
+	public void setupContext() {
+		String prefix = "/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/ContextHierarchyTests-";
+		this.parentContext = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext(prefix + "parent.xml");
+		this.childContext = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext(
+				new String[] { prefix + "child.xml" }, parentContext);
+	}
+
+
+	@Test // INT-646
+	public void inputChannelInParentContext() {
+		Object parentInput = parentContext.getBean("input");
+		Object childInput = childContext.getBean("input");
+		Object endpoint = childContext.getBean("chain");
+		DirectFieldAccessor accessor = new DirectFieldAccessor(endpoint);
+		Object endpointInput = accessor.getPropertyValue("inputChannel");
+		assertEquals(parentInput, childInput);
+		assertEquals(parentInput, endpointInput);
+	}
+
+}