Guest at Communion service

The guest would be welcome to attend the worship service but not receive the Lord’s Supper.

The reason for that is people express their closeness in faith and oneness with one another when they receive the sacrament together (1 Corinthians 10:17). If people who are not united in the faith were to receive the sacrament together, there would be a false picture of unity.

Presbyterians and Lutherans have entirely different beliefs about the real presence of Jesus’ body and blood in the sacrament. The Bible explains how serious it is to deny the real presence of the Lord’s body and blood (1 Corinthians 11:29). If the guest were to receive the sacrament in one of our churches, he would be confessing by his actions that he believed in the real presence of Jesus’ body and blood. Is that the confession he wants to make? If it is, there is a way for him to receive instruction in the Bible, join one of our congregations and then receive the sacrament—along with other Christians who are making the same confession of faith.

Pastors of our congregations stand ready to explain all this to guests and to provide opportunities for instruction in God’s word.