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Communion

Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by menageriekeeper, Nov 28, 2011.

  1. menageriekeeper

    menageriekeeper Active Member

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    How often?

    Community cup? Yes, no, why? (scriptures please)

    Does it really matter if the bread is leavened? (always wondered that. Any scripture to support unleavened bread only since we are no longer under the law?)

    Wine/grape juice? (no not really. this horse is quite dead enough. However, if we still use unleavened bread....should we not still use wine?)

    Who with? Anyone who claims the name of Christ? Only those properly baptised by the local church? Can the out of towner Methodist member that is visiting relatives participate?

    Answer questions with scripture AND, if you know, why your particular church decided to do things the way they do. (which is something I can't do. I have no idea how our customs got started. When I ask I get "cause that's the way we've always done it" :rolleyes: )
     
  2. matt wade

    matt wade Well-Known Member

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    No regular schedule

    No on the community cup. Not because of any Biblical evidence one way or the other. It's just the way we do it. I don't think either way is preferred Biblically.


    Again, I don't think Biblically it matters one way or the other.

    I don't believe it matters one way or the other.

    Only with members of the local church. Visitors may not participate. Every example we have in Scripture is only the local church participating.
     
  3. Tom Butler

    Tom Butler New Member

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    My church has the Lord's Supper once a quarter. Why? We've always done it that way? Probably for a hundred years.

    We don't do the community cup. Never done it that way. For a hundred years.

    We use unleavened bread. Leaven is symbolic of sin. Unleavened bread is symbolic of the sinless body of the Lord Jesus. Somehow something is lost if we trivialize the Lord's Supper with saltines and seven-up.
    1 Corinthians 5:7-8
    Wine or grape juice. My church uses grape juice, but wine is okay. The leaven in the juice is purged out in the fermenting process.

    Communion: Open, Closed, Close

    My church is Close Communion (Baptists only) I join with Matt Wade in holding to Closed Communion--local church members only. As he says, the only examples of communion in the NT involve local chuches. Even the first one, the night before the crucifixion, was definitely Closed.

    Another reason for Closed is related to church discipline. Would you allow a member of another Baptist church (or any church) to participate in the Lord's Supper if he had been disfellowshipped from his previous church for flagrant sin?
     
    #3 Tom Butler, Nov 28, 2011
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 28, 2011
  4. govteach51

    govteach51 New Member

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    -Every Quarter
    -Individual Cups
    -Welch' s Grape Juice
    -Unleavened Bread, however we have used crackers when we had trouble getting the bread.
    -Southern Baptists only. My Mother's church only allow members of her church take.

    On a side note, went to a funeral of a friend at St, Anthony's Catholic Cathedral in Beaumont, Texas. They invited all non- Catholic Christians to take part in communion. ( We passed.) Anyway, we thought it was unusual.
     
  5. annsni

    annsni Well-Known Member
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    The first Sunday of the month

    Ewww!! Nope. Not following any directive of Scripture but instead hygene. We use a prepackaged communion cup/wafer together since we are a portable church and it's more convenient for now. Also, the hotel doesn't want us bringing in food so we decided to just do it this way. We now COULD bring in our own communion but this works fine for us.

    I think the bread symbolizing Christ's body gives significance to the "no leaven" thing. In much of Scripture, leaven symbolizes sin (but not in all cases, just most) and so it is likely the bread should be unleavened as well.

    We use grape juice. I personally think wine should be used but our custom is grape juice and so we use that.

    Anyone who is saved by the blood of the Lamb.
     
  6. Tom Bryant

    Tom Bryant Well-Known Member

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    How often? First sunday of every month and on Christmas eve.

    Community Cup? single serving small plastic because I imagine each Apsotle had their own cup.

    Unleavened Bread? - actually crackers,

    wine/grape juice? - Grape juice because we always did it that way. I have no problem with wine usage.

    who with? we practice close communion. "Let a man examine himself..."

    We just try to keep it simple and biblical. If we're going to do it the way Jesus did it, we will be having the meal and the Lord's Supper will be one part of it. Paul apparently told the Corinthian church to stop the eating and just do the elements.

    But, honestly, much of what we do is because we've always done it that way.
     
  7. Tom Butler

    Tom Butler New Member

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    Most Catholic churches offer the wafer only to Catholics. That's the practice at RCC churches in my town.
     
  8. annsni

    annsni Well-Known Member
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    That church actually went against the teaching of the Catholic church.
     
  9. matt wade

    matt wade Well-Known Member

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    I went to a Catholic funeral about 4 years ago and they offered for all to come up and partake in the communion. I also declined.
     
  10. Jerome

    Jerome Well-Known Member
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    Yes, you can try to filter out the dead yeast they use to ferment the fruit of the vine into wine, but it is impossible to remove every particle.
     
  11. menageriekeeper

    menageriekeeper Active Member

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    You hand out a packet? Someone manufactures a communion packet? One learns something new every day!

    Soo the discussion about taking communion at a Catholic church leads me to ask: with whom would you believe its okay to take communion with?
     
  12. annsni

    annsni Well-Known Member
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    Yep!! This is what it looks like:

    [​IMG]

    We speak before communion each time and explain that it is for anyone who trusts Jesus Christ as their Savior and has been born again.
     
  13. menageriekeeper

    menageriekeeper Active Member

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    Ann, that is just totally hilarious. I'm sorry. I'm sure it fits the need, but I just find the idea of communion snack packs funny! (yes, I know I'm warped)

    The question about who you would take communion with? I want to know who you would take communion with IF you were the visitor. Perhaps at a relatives say Methodist or Presby church? Where would you draw the line between, I'll take commuion wit this group but not that, or would it totally depend on the congregation itself (apart from its denominational structure)?
     
  14. annsni

    annsni Well-Known Member
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    I laughed so hard when I saw it and it's still weird to use it but it IS convenient!! The only thing is that it comes with the wafers like in the Catholic church and I'd MUCH rather have the matzoh but they don't have that yet. :)

    Ahh - I'd take it in a Presby church for sure because we were Presby before we came to this church and as long as we are of like faith and practice we would participate in communion. :) The Methodist churches around here would be questionable because many don't even believe the Bible so I'd probably skip them - but I'd most likely not be in their church anyway. I guess it would depend on whether they believe as I do Biblically.
     
  15. Tom Butler

    Tom Butler New Member

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    I have been in several churches when they observed the Lord's Supper. I never participate, of course, since I hold that the LS is the ordinance of a local church, and only its members should participate.

    In a couple of those churches, the pastor clearly explained the church's policy. In one of them, the pastor invited all professing believers of whatever strip to participate. In another, all Baptists were invited.

    I have heard of one church where, at the end of the service, the pastor will announce that the church is about to take communion; it is for members only; and invites everybody else to leave at that time.

    I''m a Closed Communion kind of guy, but that's a bit much, even for me.
     
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