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Previous | Next The Lord’s Supper: Who’s invited?
Dave Esau
Throughout its history, the Church has kept at the centre of its public worship not only the preaching of the Word but also the celebration of the Lord’s Supper (or communion). In doing so, Christians have followed the command given by Jesus Himself during His last supper with His disciples, when He instructed them to “do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19). But while Christians are generally united on the importance of celebrating the Lord’s Supper, we are not always agreed on our practice, especially when it comes to who’s invited.
Pastor, can I participate in the Lord’s Supper?
The question of who should participate in communion is one that arises for people in a number of ways. Should it only be believers who have been baptized upon their confession of faith and are members of a local church that participate? What about an adult or young person who has not yet been baptized and yet has a desire to participate? What about a child who has received Jesus into his or her life and wants to participate? As a pastor, I encounter many people asking at least one, if not all, of those questions.
These are not always easy questions to answer, and different denominations as well as individual congregations within each denomination have often varied in their practice of who is invited to participate in communion. Even within individual Mennonite Brethren congregations, our understanding and participation in the Lord’s Supper tends to vary.
When someone asks who’s invited, my initial response is that communion is for Christians. But if that person comes from, or has visited, a congregation from another denomination, that person has likely observed a variety of answers to “Who’s invited?”.
One of the reasons for the variety of practices among various Christian denominations is that our understanding of communion is tied to our understanding of baptism and church membership. Therefore what may seem like a simple question can require a detailed response.
The inclusive and exclusive models
Generally speaking, the responses range between the two poles of inclusion and exclusion. The same Jesus who said, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28) also said, “Anyone who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38). Christians are caught in precisely this tension between the inclusive invitation and the exclusive commitment Christ requires from His followers (Luke 9:57-62; Luke 14:25-35). The range of responses that various churches make to the question of who’s invited reflects this tension.
Rather than living with the tension, we tend to swing the pendulum from one extreme to the other. The old temptation among Mennonites was to be exclusive to the point where we tended to lose sight of the wideness of God’s mercy. Communion was restricted to members of the local congregation, which tended to nurture a “we are the only true Christians” mentality.
The modern response of many churches has been a kind of pendulum swing towards an inclusive communion in which everyone is invited (irrespective of believer’s baptism or membership). The strength of such an approach is that it reflects a Jesus who went out of His way to eat and drink with those on the margins of society. The danger is that such a church will find it difficult if not impossible to hold the church accountable to its covenant (1 Corinthians 5:12-13; 2 Corinthians 13:10) or to effectively proclaim Jesus’ call to take up the cross (Luke 9:23; Luke 14:27). Many of us have come to cherish the hospitality of the gospel, but don’t know what to do with its demands. Ironically, such an inclusive community soon forgets why and what it was supposed to be calling people to in the first place.
The MB Confession of Faith
Our Mennonite Brethren Confession of Faith is designed as a summary statement of what we believe the Bible teaches on a variety of specific topics, including the Lord’s Supper. The simple answer to the question of who’s invited is “all believers”. Our Confession of Faith qualifies that basic answer with “All those who understand its meaning”. If I am going to participate in some kind of protest march or sign my name to a petition, I want to know what I am participating in. What is the meaning or significance of my participation? How will it be understood?
In our culture, we tend to seal a deal with a handshake and/or signing on the dotted line. In ancient times, one of the ways of sealing a deal was participating in a special meal together (Genesis 26:28-31; Exodus 24:11; Luke 22:20). When it comes to a person’s participation in the Lord’s Supper, it is important to know that it is a covenant meal and that the person who participates in it is expressing a covenant commitment. As the Confession goes on to explain, “all those who understand its meaning” are those who:
- “Confess Jesus Christ as Lord in word and life.”
The meal is, after all, the Lord’s Supper, and by sitting down to eat and fellowship with Him we are expressing our commitment to live and speak like His followers in our private and public lives. I think of it as a willingness to be identified with the Jesus team. Just as people in our culture like to wear a team logo, so participation in this meal marks us off as followers of the real Great One.
- “Are accountable to their congregation.”
As members of the one universal Jesus team (the church), we often need to be reminded that membership includes being accountable to a local congregation. The modern focus on the individual has largely eroded the biblical model of community. In the New Testament, a “member” literally means a “limb” or other part of a body (Ephesians 4:25; Ephesians 6:30). A Christian disconnected from a church is like a football player without a team, a tuba player without an orchestra or a child without a family. When we are born into the family of God, we become part of the people of God, a fact which should be expressed through a commitment to a local church (Ephesians 2:19-22; Hebrews 10:25).
- “Are living in right relationship with God and others.”
What we say and do affects the team, so it is only right that we express a commitment to living in a right relationship with God (our team owner) and with our teammates.
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The Lord’s Supper is actually a renewal of the original vows we took when we said “I do” to following Jesus “for better or for worse, in sickness and in health”. That is why the final line in the Confession article, “The normal pattern in the New Testament was that baptism preceded participation in the Lord’s Supper”, is important. It was after people believed and were baptized and added to the church in Acts 2 that we hear of them gathering together for worship, study of the Word and fellowship in the breaking of bread (i.e., the Lord’s Supper).
The marriage analogy picks up and builds on the team analogy by illustrating the kind of covenant commitment that is being expressed by one’s participation in the Lord’s Supper. There are three aspects of the marriage covenant that are parallel to the rituals of baptism, communion and membership. The first step, engagement, is a personal promise that looks ahead to the formal and public marriage ceremony, when the covenant is made and confirmed in the presence of witnesses. That covenant is then remembered and celebrated yearly on the wedding anniversary. In the Bible, our personal confession of faith to Jesus (engagement) is to be followed by the covenant sign of baptism (the marriage ceremony). The Lord’s Supper, then, is like an anniversary celebration looking back on the covenant ceremony. Changing that order by participating in communion before baptism would be like celebrating the anniversary of one’s engagement rather than celebrating the anniversary of one’s wedding.
Any exceptions?
If we were to stop here, we would be inclined to restrict participation in the Lord’s Supper to only baptized members. But when we say that “the normal pattern in the New Testament was that baptism preceded participation in the Lord’s Supper”, we are saying that what we read in the New Testament is “descriptive” and not necessarily “prescriptive” – it tells us what they did, but does not always tell us what we ought to do when we face situations not specifically faced by the early church.
For example, in the contemporary church there is often a gap between a person’s personal profession of faith and their public confession of faith through baptism. The gap gives time for children, teenagers or newly converted adults to begin to express the reality of their faith. During this period of growth and maturation, should these believers be encouraged to participate fully in communion, or should they be encouraged to participate by observation only?
Personal application
Let me be clear that as a parent I want my children not to feel rejected but to feel invited. I embrace the gospel image of Jesus calling the children to Himself and blessing them, despite the objections of His adult followers (Mark 10:13-16). As a church, it is imperative that we seek out ways of communicating to our children that they are a valuable part of our congregation.
At the same time, when I read about the full meaning of the Lord’s Supper (and baptism and membership), I realize that being a part of the church is a very serious commitment. Not being able (yet) to participate in one aspect of the church, the Lord’s Supper, need not be experienced as exclusion, any more than does being present at weddings or graduations. On the contrary, such celebrations can be experienced as something to be anticipated, even yearned for.
As a parent, I want my children to look forward to full participation in the body of Christ. But I also want them to know that such participation requires an important choice and decision, one that will mark their whole life. At this point, my children are not yet ready to participate in communion, but I hope and pray for the day when they are. Making an informed decision with them is both a parental responsibly and a privilege.
Dave Esau is senior pastor of Cedar Park Church in Delta, B.C.
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Last modified September 20, 2000.
© 2000 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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