I remember it like it was yesterday. Sitting in church on a Sunday evening for the Sunday night service. The Sunday evening service was not a reprise of the Sunday morning service – back in the day, it was a different service – usually a bit less formal and with more “contemporary” music than the hymns we had sung that Sunday morning during church. It was the first Sunday of the month on a hot summer evening in August. 

Our pastor said, “Will the men come forward,” and eight deacons, each one sweating a bit in their dress suits and neckties – pretty much the only suits and ties being worn on such a summer night – came marching in formation, two-by-two down the center aisle from the back to the front of the sanctuary where they split into two lines, one on each side of the large oak table emblazoned with the words, “This Do In Remembrance of Me.” The table had a tall stack of eight aluminum trays each holding about two dozen thimble-sized plastic cups partially filled with diluted grape juice. Four smaller trays which contained some tiny, white, unleavened crackers were stacked on either side of the stack of juice trays.

The juice trays were distributed first in the same way the offering plates had been distributed earlier in the service. When the last trays were passed down the back pew, the suit-clad men collected them and then marched back to the front in formation, assumed the aforementioned positions and, after a prayer and the congregation “partaking of the cup” together, the deacons commenced passing the “bread” trays down the pews.

It was Baptist communion in the late 70s.

Most churches don’t do the Lord’s Supper, communion, eucharist, or whatever your church calls it in the same way anymore. The thought of tearing chunks of bread from a common loaf and drinking from a common cup is not as popular as it once was. In the early 2020s, COVID ushered in wide-spread use of the “single-use communion kit” – a thimble sized container with paper covering its top and bottom compartments. 

The smaller bottom compartment contains a small piece of an inedible substance that tastes sort of like once-dampened cardboard. The top compartment contains a purplish liquid said to resemble grape juice which is untowardly warm to the palate and devoid of any resemblance to the taste of any grape juice I’ve ever consumed – it’s certainly not the kind of wine Jesus would make or, likely, serve. There is not enough liquid to wash the unpleasant aftertaste from the cracker from one’s mouth, so many worshippers are glad they brought a water bottle with them into the service.

The Lord’s Supper has become modernized. In many of our churches, it is no longer what it used to be. It begs the question, “What should it be?”

The statement of faith of the Evangelical Free Church of America identifies two ordinances – baptism and the Lord’s supper. But the EFCA does not mandate the mode or timing of baptism nor the ways our autonomous churches decide to observe the Lord’s Supper. That’s part of the “free” in the EFCA. But that does not mean that churches should not be intentional about how they observe something as important as the Lord’s Supper, and that’s something to talk about.

There are lots of things related to observing the Lord’s Supper that many church leaders and members take for granted. But those of us in leadership should not be taking this for granted. If we believe the observance of the Lord’s Supper is important enough for it to be one of the two ordinances in all our churches, we should be intentional about what we do and how we do it. The point of this article is not to chastise us or suggest there is only one “right way” to observe the Lord’s Supper. The point of this article is to encourage you to have a discussion with your church leadership team, and perhaps your congregation, about what we do in this church and why we do it that way.

To jumpstart your conversation, here are a few prompts.

• How often will we observe the Lord’s Supper in our church? Will we do it at the same time each month (or most months)? Many churches have a “first Sunday of each month” style schedule, with perhaps a special observance related to Good Friday, Easter, or Christmas.
• How often and when do you observe this and why did you pick those options?

• Where will we observe the Lord’s Supper? The two most common times and places I’ve encountered are monthly during a Sunday church service or monthly (or so) in the more intimate small groups atmosphere. Some churches observe it weekly, and some less often than monthly.
• How often does your church observe the Lord’s Supper and why did you decide what you did?

If you observe the Lord’s Supper during a church service, how do you do it?

Here are some ways I’ve seen.

• The formal, “thundering herd” of leaders method described in this article’s opening paragraphs.
• The “serve yourself” style led by the worship leader between two songs of the music set.
• Elements passed to people while they are seated to be taken together or distributed or picked up by worshippers before the church services using the “single use” communion kits.
• During a 5 to 10-minute segment set aside during the worship service, before, during, or immediately after the sermon.

How does your church do the Lord’s Supper, and why do you do it that way?

• Is the Lord’s Supper a “special” time during a worship service or is it squeezed somewhere into a busy Sunday worship schedule? Do we include a time of reflection to “examine ourselves” or do we speed on through? Do we address the bread and cup separately or in one fell swoop?

• Do we focus upon the meaning and significance of the Lord’s Supper or upon having observed it as often as our bylaws, policies, or customs dictate? Do we make it meaningful, or do we check if off on the church calendar’s monthly to-do list?

From its inception 130 articles ago, this column has asked church leaders to have a conversation about something that typically does not show up on a normal meeting agenda but is very important to talk about.

When was the last time the leadership team of your church talked about how we remember Jesus through the celebration of the Lord’s Supper? Are we excited about what we do or a bit sheepish? Either way or somewhere in between, it’s something to talk about. Let’s have that conversation.

Let us know if we can help and how your conversation goes. Contact Bob Osborne by e-mail at bob.osborne@efca.org. 

This is one of a series of articles intended to facilitate and guide church leaders’ conversations about significant issues that often are not talked about among pastors, boards, and church leadership teams. Visit the EFCA West website to see prior Something to Talk About articles.