Calvary Baptist Church regularly celebrates two very special
ceremonies: baptism and communion. We
call these “ordinances” because Jesus commanded us to celebrate them (Matthew
28:19-20, Luke 22:19-20, 1 Corinthians 11:23-25). Both baptism and communion are for believers only.
In
previous blogs we have addressed how baptizing believers is part of the
disciple-making task. We have
encouraged every disciple-maker to baptize those who come to faith and we have
encouraged every ABF and disciple-making group to take advantage of these
opportunities for celebration and evangelism.
In this blog I want to briefly address
communion, or more commonly known in our tradition, as The Lord’s Supper. While baptism allows us to welcome new
believers into our fellowship, the Lord’s Supper permits us to regularly
remember that which unites us with God and with each other. The work of Jesus on the cross is what
reconciles us to God, what binds us together as brothers and sisters, and the motivation for our covenant commitment.
The Lord’s
Supper is both an act of worship and a celebration of fellowship. It is so important and central to a
disciple-making community. During my
recent sabbatical I became convicted that we do not celebrate communion often
enough at CBC. Therefore I am
encouraging a more frequent and broader celebration among us.
There are
three levels at which I am leading us as a congregation to celebrate the Lord’s
Supper more frequently: at the congregational level, at the ABF/disciple-making
group level, and at the pastoral care/deacon/shut-in level.
Congregational Level: Currently we celebrate communion every other month on the first Sunday of the month. Beginning with August 5, 2018, we will now celebrate communion the first Sunday of every month during our Sunday worship services. So we are moving from a bi-monthly observance to a monthly one. I have spoken with our pastoral staff, our chairman of deacons, and our worship leaders and they are ready to move forward with this change.
ABF/Disciple-Making Group: I want to encourage ABFs and other disciple-making groups to occasionally celebrate the Lord's Supper. This can be especially meaningful for gatherings in a home or a venue away from the church campus. The setting of fellowship closer to the Lord's last supper with his disciples can be meaningfully represented in an informal setting. The pastoral staff will be ready to train and coach leaders of ABFs and other disciple-making groups on how to conduct the Lord's Supper in a biblical way and how elements might be prepared. (See the video below with practical help for this). We also encourage you to share with a member of the pastoral staff when you celebrate communion so that we can rejoice with you.
Pastoral Care/Deacon/Shut-Ins: We encourage pastors, deacons and disciple-making group leaders to administer communion to those believers who are not able to attend Sunday worship services or ABF/Home group gatherings because they are ill at home, in a nursing home, or in hospice. Our office has practical juice-and-cracker kits that can facilitate this or you can prepare your own kit. Of course, when a member is in a nursing home, hospital or hospice the person administering communion should check with the nurse to make sure the patient is able to take it.
I hope and pray that our community of disciple-makers will grow stronger as we celebrate communion more frequently and in more venues. Let us continually remember who our Lord is, what He did for us, and what our call is as his disciples.
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