Communion?

Our church is open to anyone who is a professing member of the body of Christ. It is not closed to the local body of believers only.

 

==Open, and I agree with that practice. It should be open to all believers in Christ. All christians are part of the family of God; and that family's table should have room for all believers.

Martin.

 

Our church has no official policy, but we practice open. There is a vocal minority that wants closed.

As for me, I cannot see the reasoning of using local church membership as a standard of taking the Lord's Supper. We have church members that havent darkened the doors in so long, the oldest member cant remember them. Now, if I am a deacon serving the Lord's Supper, and one of these members comes in after a 30 year absence, and say sitting next to him is a person who was passing on the interstate and stopped to worship because he loves the Lord, guess which one I am going to offer it to if I had to choose. Of course, I would offer to both, but you get my point. The biblical standard is "examime yourself", not a dead membership roll.

Yes, the local church is a vital, living, entity for Jesus. That has nothing to do with communion. Oh and by the way, the fact that Jesus gave the Last Supper to the disciples only is not a theological argument.

 

Our communion is open to all born again believers in Christ.

 

Open to all who know Christ as their Lord and Savior.

 

Open to all baptized beleivers.

 

I agree with Donna..

 

Our church is basically open, although there is no policy on how open. I suspect the consensus is that the Lord's Supper should be confined to fellow Baptists. Saturnneptune and I are fellow deacons in the same church and I am one of the minority who favor closed communion. He sees it differently, as his post above indicates.

It might be well define some terms. Here are mine:
Wide Open Communion. All professing believers are invited to participate regardless of denomination, even if they have not been baptized.
Open Communion. Open to all baptized believers, regardless of denomination.
Close Communion. Open only to fellow Baptists.
Closed Communion. Confined to members of the administering congregation.

To branch out a bit from the thread, would your church serve the Lord's Supper to an unbaptized person?

Would it serve an acknowledged Roman Catholic or Episcopalian. A Church of Christ-er? A Mormon?

Out of respect for Mima's original post, please don't argue for or against, just advise the practice of your church and if you agree or disagree with your congregation's policy. We can start a new thread for discussion and debate on the subject.

Tom B.

 

rsr,
I agree with you totally. Look at the difference of opinion in BB about Calvinism, end times, infant issues, Lordship salvation, on and on, and from pastors, degreed people, what does like faith and order mean?

 

I do agree with Brother Tom in the fact that some of the denominations he mentioned as Catholic, Mormon, etc, may be so far out of our main beliefs it becomes an argument to limit.

The branch of Baptist called American General is much different in belief to SBC than some conservative Protestant denominations.

 

At our church, communion is avaiable to anyone confessing Christ as their Lord.

 

Communion, the Eucharist or the Lord's Supper should be served to Christians ONLY and not be shared with just anyone. For it is at this sacred time Christians are to examine themselves and reflect on what Christ has done for them in the shedding of his blood and giving his body for us at Calvary.

Centuries ago, in Baptist churches, communion was closed and for members only, but in this modern era, especially non denominational churches, the cup and the bread is passed to anyone. This is wrong.