Communion Ideas - Hearts to God

1 Communion 2002 Hearts to 15, 2002> Communion Ideas > >page 1>Forward from Don Chapman:A Communion service should be a wonderful, meaningfultime for you and your congregation -- a time to put asideour busy lives for a moment and focus on Christ and Hissacrifice for tips in this special report will help you bring new life toyour Communion services. With so many denominationsrepresented with readers, not everyidea will be practical for your fellowship. However, Iencourage you to read each one, and maybe somethingwill spark your might want to print out the report, punch holes andkeep it in a 3 ring binder for future reference along withother tips.>About:This special Communion Ideas report was compiled fromemailed suggestions by readers fromMarch 25 to April 12, 2002.

2 [ is a website that features free musicand practical tips for contemporary worship leaders.]Feel free to copy and distribute this report in its entirety.> Ideas from Don Chapman>>>>I d like to start this special report with a few Ideas we'vetried at Horizon Church. We meet in a public schoolcafetorium, and usually set up the Communion table infront of the room. Sometimes we set up to the side, infront of large glass windows (you can look out and see anice wooded area). During one Christmas season I had aharpist play carols by the window as the congregation filedpast the Communion Sunday we had Communion "in the round" witheveryone in the room standing in a circle. The eldersdistributed the elements and afterwards we joined handsand sang a hymn.

3 This idea would of course be simpler fora church that can easily rearrange the chairs of theirmeeting , our pastor, likes to give the congregation a goodsizedpiece of bread (instead of a tiny cracker anda thimble of juice), helping us remember that the firstLord s Supper was really a friend George and I love to eat at a local Indianrestaurant. George became friends with one of the waitersand invited him to church. Ashfaque began attendingregularly, and one Sunday he offered to go into therestaurant early and bake naan (flat Indian bread) for ourservice. Not only was that Sunday the most deliciousCommunion service I've ever attended, but it was also themost touching one as well!

4 Perhaps you can find a nearby ethnic food store orrestaurant and purchase some inexpensive bread forvariety. The owners may even be happy to donate and> Communion Ideas > >page 2> Communion Ideas > >page 3>Engaging the Congregation, Washing Ceremony>>Here are some Communion Ideas that I have foundhelpful throughout my ministry. First of all, there aresimple ways to involve your congregation as participants inthe Lord's Supper rather than observers only. You mightwant to try to have the congregation come up to receivethe bread, preferably broken from a common loaf ofunleavened bread baked by a member of the same can be done for the cup, but this can take awhile. If you plan the entire service around the table, thenthis shouldn't be a idea is to incorporate a hand washing ceremonywith the congregation.

5 In the(manual for theSeder meal in Judaism) there are several hand washingsdone on the part of participants, which are called. Jesus may have done this same thing whenpreparing for the passover meal with His disciples. It issymbolic of cleansing, so you may want to incorporate atime of confession done in silence as the washing occurs orjust before the participants begin the would be much easier to do in our congregations thanfoot washing, due to several factors. First of all, people canbe sometimes timid about going barefoot in , it reserves the foot washing ceremony forMaundy Thursday. Finally, it doesn't take up as much larger congregations (over 100), several washingstations can be set up around the sanctuary.

6 This can be avery meaningful act and can remind people of thecleansing they receive from Christ when they confess theirsins before WestUniversity Heights Baptist ChurchHuntsville, TXHaggadahRachtzah> Communion Ideas > >page 4>Bread>>We wanted to get as many senses involved as possible,so we had a bread machine hidden in the front of thesanctuary programed to bake bread during the aroma of fresh bread baking was quite an addition toour Communion service!Tana HeyConsider doing different types of bread at differentseasons of the year making the point that while Jesus isthe same, yesterday, today and forever, He is also theBread of Life and is there to feed us in the ways we needto be warm bread, cooked in a bread maker, IN thesanctuary so that the tantalizing smell is part of theexperience; matzos, the unleavened bread of the passover (a feast of GOD and not the Jews, see Leviticus 23:2 & 4)during Easter season; a whole wheat or cracked wheatbread to remind us about the kernel falling into the groundto die so that it can live.

7 And a dark bread with a little ofthe sourdough taste to remind us of the things that Hetook on for us. Imagination is the only limiting factor tohow bread can speak the Scriptures louder than we ThomasZionFireKansas City, MO> Communion Ideas > >page 5>Music & Arts>>For this last passover , we did a Seder service forCommunion. The pastor sat at the front at a table with hisfamily and they went through the Biblical process for thePassover feast. We did Messianic worship music before andafter the service. We had some of the teenage girls do atraditional Jewish dance for two of the songs, and hadchildren dance with tambourines, homemade timbrels andsticks with shiny fabric attached.

8 The service was verypowerful and will be a yearly DeshazoHope Evangelical FreeHuntsville, ALFor Palm Sunday we made a cross out of two small treesand drilled holes in them. As the congregation entered,they were handed a nail. At the end of the service whilesinging, each member cameto the cross and placed their nail in one of the holes. Itreally drove home the message that Christ s unconditionallove overcame the fact that we placed Him on the thing we have done is to set a table with theCommunion elements and twelve chairs. The chair in thecenter has a crown of thorns representing Christ'spresence and His gift of eternal life and unconditional Communion was being served, the songby Barry McGuire was sung.

9 A very powerful visualreminder of what we are, indeed, KukorWilkesboro United MethodistWilkesboro, NCO, How He Loves You and MeCommunionSong> Communion Ideas > >page 6>Impacting the Culture>Since our recent transition to "seeker sensitive" services,we ve been having Communion once a month on ourFriday night "believer's service." We have been doingCommunion the same way for 25 years in our church. Withall the recent changes in the church, we have started torealize that doing things the same because we've alwaysdone it that way isn't good enough. We need to changewith the times and are now constantly re-evaluating whyand how we do want Communion to be a valuable and memorableexperience for our congregation.

10 We have decided to usemusic, lighting, video, special songs, or whatever else ittakes to get people in the moment of Communion . Theycan then take the time to reflect on what God has done forthem. We want each Communion service to be different sowe don't get into a rut and lose the impact of whatCommunion is really all about. We want people to betouched by God through this and we want to let God useus to help the and Miriam KaterbergElora Road Christian FellowshipGuelph, Ontario, Canada> Communion Ideas > >page 7>Music, Keepsakes and Kindness>>Our church's tradition is to have people come to the frontand receive the bread and the wine. During this time wehave an extended time of singing and ve had instrumentalists at the back of the churchplaying as people walked to the front.