Sharing the Lord's Supper in your small group...

Question: I’m a leader getting ready to share the Lord ’s Supper in our small group. I have to admit that I feel very uncomfortable with this. I grew up in a church where a priest was the only one who could help us with communion, and I feel very unworthy to do this.

Answer: There are two reasons why you shouldn't be nervous about sharing the Lord's Supper in your group.

First:
The Bible teaches that every believer is a "priest" before the Lord. Isn't that a wild thought!

"And now God is building you, as living stones, into his spiritual temple. What's more, you are God's holy priests, who offer the spiritual sacrifices that please him because of Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 2:5 (NLT)

That means you don't have to have special credentials to do any ministry for the Lord. We all stand as equals before him. We do want people to understand what the Bible teaches about the Lord's Supper before leading others in this celebration - which is why we ask that people grow to the point of being small group leaders before doing this.

Second:
The Bible does not teach that communion or baptism has sacramental power- they do not have the power to give grace or salvation. We don’t get more of God’s grace just by eating a piece of communion bread and the bread does not in any way actually become the body of Christ – which are the beliefs behind the feeling that only a priest could give communion. The Bible teaches that baptism and communion are symbols; they are spiritual pictures of what God has already done in our lives.

What a joy it is to help another believer picture the fact that they have a new life through baptism, or to picture the truth that Jesus died for us in the Lord's Supper.

If you want to study this further…
Look at our guide for sharing the Lord ’s Supper in your small group

Have A Great Week!

Ian