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With most of our world spending months in isolation, Christianity finds itself in an interesting position. We aren’t being oppressed in our coming together, but instead being asked to exercise wisdom and cooperation as both Christians and non-Christians try to lessen the strain on hospitals until we have a better understanding of how to combat Covid-19. And so we sit around, making the best of a bad situation until we can resume our normal lives.
Yet Christianity is all about coming together. Although we have our individual relationships with Christ, the Bible is incredibly clear that we were meant to live as a community, both with Christians everywhere as well as those in our local church. So Christians everywhere find themselves asking what aspects of the church setting we should do remotely, and what things should be reserved for when we can finally come together.
One question is whether Christians should take communion at home. Before we immediately jump to a conclusion, it would be wise to look at both sides of the argument.
Why it’s okay to take it at home
God doesn’t call us to a life of strict rules-following. In fact, most of Christ’s most frustrating encounters was when He was dealing with Pharisees who insisted that everything be done in one certain way or else. Christ offers us a certain amount of freedom in how we honor Him.
This is especially important to remember right now. The question of taking communion at home isn’t a matter of outright ignoring the church in favor of a “Just me and Jesus” misunderstanding of Christianity. Instead, the question comes from the understanding that taking communion at home is a temporary measure, and is simply a reaction to circumstances.
They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:42)
This is especially true of most churches who are administering communion online with their pastor. Whole groups of Christ-followers are examining their hearts at the same time, responding to their pastor’s call to be worthy of taking the Lord’s Supper as we remember what Christ did for us. Communion is still being taken together as a church, just in a very unique way that was unthinkable even centuries ago. We can still take communion regularly, like the church in Acts, just in a different setting.
This could also be compared to the age-old question of what to do with the sick and infirmed who can’t go to church, yet want to take part in communion. Overall, pastors have been known to take the bread and juice/wine to a member of their flock and have them take communion in their own home. To argue against this would be almost unthinkable.
Even if we aren’t individually sick, we are just as unable to meet together. A pastor can’t reasonably meet with 200+ members and administer the Lord’s Supper, yet that very pastor lives in a time where he can still lead the people God has given him. He can still call people to repentance, somberness, and worship as we collectively take part in something Jesus Christ wants us to regularly remember.
There are no laws on when and how communion should be taken. As long as we’re observing it like Christ calls us to do, and taking part in it with a heart that isn’t holding sin, then all we can do is make the best of a bad situation until we can come together and finally take the bread and cup in the physical presence of our brothers and sisters.
Why we should save communion for our physical gathering
First, we need to realize that what we’re doing every Sunday isn’t what Christ calls us to. I’ve written an entire article about why watching our pastor online isn’t “doing church,” so I won’t spend much time on that point. Ultimately, it all comes down to the fact that being a Christian isn’t about being an individual consumer or passive participant, but an active and vital member of a local and global community.
Thus, the notion of taking communion at home goes against everything we are called to. We are called to worship and serve in the presence of other believers, not just go through the motions of church on our own. Throughout the Bible and all of church history, we never see the idea of Christianity being an individual lifestyle until the last few centuries (interestingly, around the same time that worldviews started shifting away from community and more towards individualism).
There’s no biblical command for or against taking communion as a group of believers. However, there are several principles that we should consider.
And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you (Matthew 26:27)
First, consider the word “communion.” It shares the same root as “community,” and has the strong implication that it is something done as a group. Christ Himself even spoke to His disciples as a group, commanding them as one unit to observe the Lord’s Supper regularly.
Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you. (1 Corinthians 11:20-22)
Here, we see Paul condemning the Corinthian church for how they were handing communion. It’s clear that they weren’t holding it with any sort of reverence or awe. Instead, they approached it selfishly, for their own enjoyment instead of putting the group before the individual. This condemnation only makes sense if the core aspect of communion is, indeed, community.
Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread. (1 Corinthians 10:16–17)
Again, we see a clear indication that communion is something that brings us together to worship our Savior. The many of us are one body, and as one body we take part in the bread and cup that calls us to remember what Christ did on the cross. This shows no indication that communion is something individuals do, but something meant to be done as a community.
not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:25)
Finally, we also need to consider the message that we send, and the priorities we set, by taking communion at home. Sermons are already being done online, and many people make the mistake of thinking they’re “doing church” during this time. However, the value of online sermons right now isn’t to replace the church, but to act as a stand-in until we can actually do church together. It lets us continue the habit of doing something during our regularly scheduled “church time.”
However, if communion is one of the purposes of gathering together, then taking it at home is actually removing a function of the body of believers. It allows us to be our own body, replacing the local bride of Christ with something more comfortable and less demanding of our personal sacrifice. It encourages us to temporarily replace the purpose of gathering together, and from there tempts us to forsake it altogether.
After all, if we can sit and home and watch a sermon, take communion, and have a Zoom meeting with our church friends once a week where we offer to pray for one another’s struggles… what are we missing by not getting together physically? We get our teaching, we observe the Lord’s Supper, and we can live out a form of Hebrews 10:24 by encouraging one another, all while wearing fuzzy slippers.
Ultimately, a matter of conscience
The argument for taking communion at home is fairly straightforward. It’s almost like asking if we should read our Bibles on the bus – there’s not much to say because it seems so obvious. Any discussion between the two options may seem unbalanced, but that’s mostly because taking communion at home is simply responding to our call to observe it regularly, even though we can’t meet together for a time.
Yet unlike reading our Bibles on a bus, the argument against taking communion at home also has some merit that may not be obvious at first. There’s a lot to indicate that communion is a community activity, and thus isn’t something that was ever meant to be left up to an individual. Instead of trying to create a lesser version of church, perhaps we should instead accept that church simply isn’t possible during the quarantine, rather than trying to find ways to make it work in a way that could create problems later.
There may be enough gray area between the two that Christians can hold different positions, both coming from a genuine desire to bring glory to Christ through obedience. I don’t envy pastors who have to work through such a strange situation as they try to lead their congregation with wisdom. Those of us who aren’t in such a position need to make sure we’re submitting to the authority God has placed over us while still respecting our individual consciences.
Wherever you fall, just make sure your belief is firmly rooted in the Bible. And with that, whichever route you choose, make sure you keep looking forward to that beautiful time when we can get together with our brothers and sisters. Be excited to come together to sit under biblical teaching, observing the Lord’s Supper as one body, and serving one another in word and action.
