Ask · The Church & Christian Life

Who should take the Lord's Supper, and how often?

The short answer

The Supper is for baptised believers who are examining themselves and living at peace with the church as far as they can; Paul warns against eating and drinking in an unworthy manner, without discerning the body. Christians differ on how often it should be shared, weekly, monthly or otherwise, and on details of practice. The New Testament shows a church devoted to breaking bread, meeting on the first day of the week, and remembering the Lord until he comes.

The fuller answer

Begin with whose table it is. It is the Lord's, which settles two things at once: no church owns it, and no one comes to it as a right or a reward for a good week. Paul hands on what he received: the bread is Christ's body, the cup the new covenant in his blood, and eating and drinking proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. He also fences the table in the same passage. Whoever eats in an unworthy manner, without examining himself and discerning the body, brings judgement on himself, so the Supper calls for faith, self examination and reconciliation, not casual routine.

On who should come, churches agree on the centre and differ at the edges. The centre: the Supper is for those who belong to Christ, normally marked by baptism and a credible profession of faith, and not under the church's discipline. The edges are honestly disputed: whether children who profess faith should be admitted, and whether Christians visiting from other churches may join. The Didache, a very early church manual, fences the table in the same direction, directing that no one eat or drink of the thanksgiving except those baptised in the name of the Lord. State your church's practice plainly and hold it gently.

On frequency, Scripture gives a pattern rather than a timetable. The first church was devoted to the breaking of bread, and Paul met the church at Troas on the first day of the week for the same purpose, which is why many churches share the Supper weekly. Others, fearing routine would dull reverence, share it monthly or quarterly. Both can point to the pattern; neither may bind consciences beyond it. What is not optional is the thing itself. A church that rarely or never comes to the table has lost something Paul treats as central, whatever its calendar says.

Luke's summary of the first church puts the breaking of bread where this whole answer began: among the four things the Spirit formed church was devoted to, alongside teaching, fellowship and prayer. Devotion is a strong word, and it describes habit rather than occasional enthusiasm. Whatever calendar a congregation settles on, that word is the standard to measure it by. The Supper should be frequent enough, and prepared for carefully enough, that a visitor could say of that church what Luke said of the first one: these people are devoted to this table.

Sources

• Berean Standard Bible (BSB)
• The Didache (early church manual)

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