A Guideline

[h5463]

There are things better to have guidelines. Recently we leadership team discussed how to handle people who want to rent our church for wedding. There was a couple wanting to rent the church but they are not believers. They contacted a sister, who sporadic attends the church activities, to ask for renting on their behalf. Eventually we decided for non-Christian couple they need to acknowledge our belief and be willing to have a Christian way of ceremony, including Bible reading, prayers, and even sermons and other necessary worship components. They will agree the wedding is basically a worship service. Plus, there is a non-alcoholic policy for the reception after the service.

But some rules may be difficult to lay down. As a multicultural church we may have different traditions for participant to join the Lord’s Supper, for example. One is for people who clam themselves Christians that they may join the service. The other believes it is better for only baptized Christians. The issue came from a newly coming sister who claimed herself Christian and wanted to partake the Communion, while the pastor was announcing that it is only for baptized Christians. She took the cup and gave it back. She was embarrassed, though she sit in the first row of the pew in front of the pulpit. No one actually saw what happened to her, except the usher. She was furious because she was not yet baptized. She later complained to the pastor and other workers why we had such an unfriendly rule. “The Lord’s Supper should be given to everyone�,she said. So, people who agree with her blamed the pastor, because the sister later left the church due to the incident.

Still we can’t have consensus on issue like that. Although both parties can quote the Scriptures they see fit for supporting, an undecided compromise is now implemented in our service: if the pastor holds the Communion, we keep the practice only for baptized believers. If the other pastor holds the service, we make exception—people identify themselves as Christian can partake.

Any suggestion welcomes.