And in our Chicago setting, I was struck by the way some perennial visitors pressed me to hold the Lord’s Supper more frequently, as if it were some sort of ritual service available to the community at large.So I graciously (I think) announced that we members would observe communion at an evening service, making it clear that this didn’t mean the others weren’t saved, but only that this was a distinctive observance for the fellowship of those who had signed our covenant of faith and mutual accountability.We made it a real meal, with catered food from a Middle Eastern restaurant. Some feel the church began on Pentecost, concluding that both the Lord’s Supper and the Great Commission were given to each individual disciple, not to the church. Baptists believe that this same pattern should be followed today.Believing in the lordship of Christ, Baptists base their beliefs about baptism and the Lord’s Supper on the teachings of Jesus.
With baptism being the symbol of one’s profession of faith and a clear command of Jesus, is not the rejection of it a sign of willful disobedience at the most basic level? We have communion - oh, say - once a quarter. With regard to New Testament exegesis, the argument for closed communion is an argument from silence. The unleavened bread symbolizes the purity of Christ, for he was without sin (Hebrews 4:15) and thus his body was an unblemished sacrifice for our sins. It can be a tricky situation. LifeWay’s newly-released research indicates that more than half of Southern Baptist pastors surveyed prefer a form of “open” communion. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) — Baptists have historically identified baptism and the Lord’s Supper as the two ordinances given by the Lord to symbolize the believer’s union with Christ.
Instead, the congregation has historically embraced the position of close communion, a position that I, too, have accepted.Close communion — inviting baptized believers to participate — “fences the table,” but not with proverbial barbed wire. It is seen each time a person comes into the local church through baptism. The Supper movingly emphasizes the love of God that led Jesus to give himself a sacrifice for sin. They are not human creations but given by God to assist us in declaring and sharing the gospel (1 Corinthians 11:26) and motivating us to live the Christian life (1 Corinthians 10:16-33; 11:29).The act of baptism affords opportunity for a person who is being baptized to testify publicly that he or she has trusted Jesus as Lord and Savior and experienced forgiveness of sin.
Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’. As I child, I understood that “Christian baptism … [was] prerequisite … to the Lord’s Supper,” as the Baptist Faith and Message (BF&M) puts it. It can be a tricky situation. I didn’t stipulate that those who partook must have undergone believer’s baptism by immersion, for that was the assumed order of things in our congregation.But what of our visitors? For believers, the Supper affords a time for special communion with the Lord, expressing thanks for his sacrifice that enables us to be forgiven of our sin. Baptists often use the word “ordinances” in referring to them because they were ordered or commanded by Jesus himself (Matthew 28:19; Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:24-25).Baptists insist that salvation is by God’s grace through faith in Christ alone, not by works or ritual (Ephesians 2:8-9). Open communion invites anyone present, who claims to follow Jesus, to partake of the Supper. Southern Baptists' view of biblical baptism entails a profession of faith and full immersion in water in the name of the Trinity.
Communion: The Lord's Supper ... Evangelism and missions have a supreme place in Baptist life.
Now, decades after my college years, I’ve come around to preferring that approach, not because I think it’s the only licit approach, but because I think it’s the optimal approach.Let me explain how I’ve gotten here. The apostles speak of the breaking of bread (which many interpret as a reference to the Lord’s Supper) as a daily act (Acts 2:46) and a weekly celebration on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7).
One is the distinction between the church, the Kingdom and the family of God. Calvary Baptist Church of Hawthorne. What if they had undergone infant “baptism” instead?