Communion Frequency

Question and Answer - If fellowship is important why not have communion every week? - this was how I was raised.

Thanks for this question. There is quite a bit packed into this question! Before I just dive in let’s touch on the 4 points of your question.

1) Fellowship – I am assuming you mean fellowship with Christ? Or do you mean fellowship with other believers?;
2) Communion – I am assuming you mean the act of communion where we remember Christ’s last supper and come into fellowship with that through a ceremony;
3) Timing – I see you mean every week – I am assuming you mean at Sunday Morning worship;
4) How you were raised – This is comfortable or meaningful to you based on tradition which is cool.

Let’s put some of these 4 together in questions I need to have answered before I am sure I am answering what you are asking:

It is very important to have fellowship with Christ. We do this through a number of ways including bible study time (alone and corporately), driving down the street, prayer, corporate worship, Sunday school fellowship time, time with friends, music, etc. What I understanding you are drawing together is the tie to communion and the frequency of this form as a corporate ordinance for our church. I would ask to go on even further and ask about why we don’t do it every time we meet together as believers? I am right with you on observing this extremely meaningful time of fellowship with Christ. That said, how often is too often and how often is not often enough? Would too often be every day? Would too few be every 2 years? I guess what I am saying is that certainly we can’t go too long nor is trying to do this every meal (which remember we are breaking bread and drinking together) in a ceremonial way corporately meaningful.

The Bible nowhere instructs us how often we should take communion. 1 Corinthians 11:24-26 records the following instructions for communion: “…the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread; And giving thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body, which is broken for you; this do in remembrance of Me.’ In the same way He took the cup also, after supping, saying, ‘This cup is the New Covenant in My blood; as often as you drink it, do this in remembrance of Me.’ For ‘as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you show’ the Lord's death until He shall come.” This passage gives all the instructions we need to perform the rite of communion and to understand the significance of what we are doing. The bread which He broke in half represents His body which was broken on the cross for us. The cup represents the blood He shed on our behalf, sealing a covenant between Him and us. Each time we perform the communion ritual, we are not only remembering what He did for us, but we are “showing” it as well to all who watch and all who participate. This is a beautiful and graphic picture of what happened at the cross, what it means, and how it impacts our lives as believers. It would seem, then, that since we take the Lord’s Supper to remember Christ’s death and shed blood, we should take it fairly often. Some churches have a monthly Lord’s Supper service, others do it bi-monthly, others weekly. Since the Bible does not give us specific instruction as to frequency, there is some latitude in how often a church should observe the Lord’s Supper. It should be often enough to renew focus on Christ, without being so often that it become routine. In any case, it’s not the frequency that matters, but the heart attitude of those who participate. We should partake with reverence, love, and a deep sense of gratitude for the Lord Jesus, who was willing to die on the cross to take upon Himself our sins.Recommended Resource: The Lord's Supper is a Celebration of Grace by Gordon Keddie.

Converse to your question I don’t fully see the tie that the church is seeing fellowship as less important if we don’t do communion every week at Sunday morning service. (BTW – I grew up this way too… )

NOTE: I am not a bible scholar nor do I understand all of the context around each item so I am going with what I know and can discern from what is written. Please comment on the item and, if I miss the real point please let me know. I have written the questions down exactly as they were written on the paper with no structure or wording changes. As promised, I will also work diligently with those that know the bible better than I to answer some of these questions. I expect that some of these questions and answers may be controversial. I am attempting only to impart truth and point to it. Please be patient with me and the answers. If I have said something that offends you or is inaccurate respond please. I will consult with a pastor and get back to you. Thanks to all for sharing!