HOLY COMMUNION

Every Sunday in our worship services we partake of the Lord’s Supper together. We believe it’s more than just remembering what Jesus did, but he meets us and feeds us at his Table in the power of the Spirit.

We welcome all professing, baptized Christians to participate and join us in the family meal of God – united by faith as one family in Christ.

CHRIST HAS DIED.
CHRIST HAS RISEN.
CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN.

Taking the Lord’s Supper every week may be new for you. Some churches reserve it for special occasions, while some do it quarterly or monthly. But we observe the Lord’s Supper every week because of what we believe happens when we partake of it and why Christ gave it to his church.

As a sacrament, the Lord’s Supper is something physical that represents something spiritual. It’s something seen that reflects something unseen, where the bread represents the body of Christ and the wine represents the blood of Christ.

As we come and receive the bread and wine by faith, Christ nourishes and feeds our souls and we feed on Christ spiritually.

This view may require a little explanation, and a great place to start is to ask where is Jesus during the Lord’s Supper?

SO, WHERE IS JESUS?

There are a number of different views on the Lord’s Supper that span across all Christian denominations. A helpful way of distinguishing the different views is to ask where is Christ when we take the Lord’s Supper? There are three essential views.

TRANSUBSTANTIATION

In the Roman Catholic tradition it’s believed that in the performance of Holy Communion (or Mass) in the liturgy, the bread actually becomes the actual body of Christ and the wine becomes the actual blood of Christ. So partakers literally consume the body and blood of Christ because the bread and wine are transformed.

So in this tradition, where is Christ during the Lord’s Supper?

Christ is present in the physical elements themselves.

MEMORIALIST

The Memorialist tradition is typically held in Baptist traditions and extends into Pentecostal and non-denominationalism. The bread and wine are merely symbols to remind us of Christ’s sacrifice. Christ is not presence in any special way and the Supper is essentially an object lesson.

So in this tradition, where is Christ during the Lord’s Supper?

Christ is in heaven and not present with his people in any special way – but why then are we to consume it?

REAL PRESENCE

Our tradition holds to the True Presence view. We believe that the bread remains bread and the wine remains wine. Christ is not present in the elements, but present by the power of the Holy Spirit. The elements are set apart in the liturgy and are attached to what they symbolize. So that as we eat and drink, the bread and wine nourish the body, but the Spirit nourishes our souls with the life of Christ.

So in this tradition, where is Christ during the Lord’s Supper?

Christ is in heaven, but truly present with us by the power of the Holy Spirit.

YOU COULD THINK ABOUT IT LIKE THIS: JUST AS THE MINISTER OFFERS BREAD AND WINE TO ALL WHO COME BY FAITH, SO THE HOLY SPIRIT STANDS BEHIND HIM OFFERING CHRIST TO NOURISH THEIR SOULS.