Close communion and membership
Hi there, While I am not a member, I have been attending a WELS church. I have been told why your congregation does \"close\" Communion and respect your stance on it. However, I have chosen not to be a member because I feel that me being a member of the body of Christ trumps any other membership. So, I was wondering what God is going to say on judgement day that other Christians have denied me the right to partake in the Lord\'s Supper because I would not become a member of their church. Does being a member really guarantee your congregation that one is truly partaking in Communion in the manner Christ intended? Isn\'t that between me and the Lord? I ask this lovingly and just can\'t wrap my head around this practice. I would graciously accept any insight. Thank you and God bless.
Close(d) Communion is the historic and biblical practice of the Christian Church. The practice has the purposes of ensuring that, as far as humanly possible, those receiving the Sacrament do so to their benefit and not their harm (1 Corinthians 11:27-30), and that the oneness that is expressed in receiving the Sacrament is genuine and not contrived (1 Corinthians 10:17).
Reception of Holy Communion is an expression of unity and fellowship with others who receive it. How do we know that those who receive the Sacrament are united in the faith with one another? We certainly cannot look into their hearts, but we can hear their common confession of faith. That is where church membership enters the picture. We see church membership as a way in which Christians acknowledge Jesus before others (Matthew 10:32) and publicly indicate their unity in faith and doctrine with fellow believers.
Does this practice “guarantee” that every person, without exception, “is truly partaking in Communion in the manner Christ intended?” No. That is not our assertion. We cannot control the attitudes of others’ hearts. What we can do is see to it that, as far as humanly possible, those receiving the Sacrament in our churches will be partaking in Communion in the manner Christ intended, and will be providing a genuine picture of unity.
On the last day Jesus will acknowledge his followers’ fruits of faith (Matthew 25:31-40). Faithfulness to the Lord’s word describes what fruits of faith are all about. If you have not had any face-to-face conversations with a WELS pastor about this subject matter, I would encourage you to do that. Christian fellowship is a wonderful blessing (Psalm 133:1).