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via emailQuestion: Do You Attend DEC’s Communion Services?
October 27th, 2009
Recently Pastor Terry mentioned that the elders have been taking a deeper look at the meaning of communion. We’re also beginning to wonder why attendance at communion services is about 1/3 the attendance on Sunday mornings. The answers may be simply logistical (we only offer 1 communion service, but 3 Sunday morning services). Or there may be deeper reasons for us to discover.
Do you attend DEC’s communion services? Why or why not?
kbrouse said:
Yes, we attend DEC’s communion services. It is difficult with a 3 & 4-year old, to keep them sitting semi-quietly. However, it is very important to us to come together with our brothers & sisters in Christ to celebrate our common belief/faith in Christ and to remember His sacrifice for us.
It’s not ideal logistically and we might attend a different communion service if one were offered; however, in the meantime, we’d rather be there than not.
Deb Mundo said:
I know this shouldn’t be the main focus of why my family doesn’t attend, but we feel that we don’t have any close connections with the Church family, we feel like we don’t really belong. There are many people who know that we have some significant struggles and no one seems to care, again I know that our focus is probably out of wack, but it’s hard to want to attend somewhere that you don’t feel you belong (and of all places, we think that we should feel like we belong at church).
one other reason is my sone sports schedule usually gets in the way.
I hope this helps……
Leanne Pellerin said:
For a while I was not able to attend due to my commitment to my local planning board. Now that those meetings are on Tuesdays, I attend Communion! I love being able to connect with God in such an intimate setting.
BL said:
I unfortunately can’t attend, because I have other Wednesday night commitments I can’t get out of. But on communion nights I find myself wishing I was with my DEC family, and not stuck working. So for me, and others I know, its simply a time or scheduling issue.
Deb, there are people that care! I understand your frustration though, it is one I’ve felt too, and I think is a downside to having a congregation as large as we do. Its hard to feel a part of something when you are one of such a large number. Its easy to come, worship, and leave without making any meaningful connections with others in the congregation. Are you part of a small group? I’m not, but my friends that are have made some very close relationships through their small group and now feel much more a part of the community. We’ve never met, I know, and I’m not sure if this is at all helpful for you, but I at least wanted you to know someone else hears you and can relate.
Wendy said:
I do attend. I am getting better at faithfully making it each month. My work schedule allows me to get there on time. If I don’t show - it’s my own excuses getting in the way. I don’t plan other events for the once-a-month chance to commune with my Father and fellow believers. I feel this is the time that is all about Jesus - His love and sacrifice for me so I can be reconciled to God. Sunday service is an opportunity to hear God’s Word and learn as a church body, but Communion brings me back to what’s the most important….
“I’m coming back to the heart of worship. And it’s all about You, It’s all about You, Jesus
I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing I’ve made it. And it’s all about You, It’s all about You, Jesus”
Deb - I have a hard time walking into church alone, not knowing people. As BL said above, joining a small group has been such a help in this area. I still do not know so many people and still feel anxiety at times, but I now have people I can spot and sit with. I have been attending for 8 months (small group and church) and have stepped out of my comfort zone to go to a small group, Search for Significance course, and services. I have issues of my own that have been (are) very hard to get past. And I wasn’t getting past them…not on my own. God brought someone into my work that simply asked where I was going to church. Pressed my emotional button you might say. She invited me to her small group and I felt that would be so uncomfortable, but also felt God wanted me ’somewhere’ and decided to try it. I had never been in a small group. It was very hard for me, and is still sometimes, but every time I step out God has blessed me. He has given me so much peace and a feeling that He cares (through these people in the small group) and a way for me to find comfort in doing what was uncomfortable. In my head I know I should be concerned with going to church and not whether or not I have someone to sit with, but truthfully, I am most grateful for my new friends to sit with because that allows me to concentrate on the worship and message.
Sorry for going on and on, but I know how much I needed that encouragement and hope you don’t give up. I think in a large church it is very hard to feel a part of the church family just through services, and small groups let you see Christ’s love in ordinary people. This is where I felt people cared about me.
David Pincince said:
Wednesday services are a “can’t miss event” filled with awesome worship and important information, exhortations, and teaching for people who have been called to the body of believers at D.E.C. To use a food analogy (we Baptists love our food), Sunday services are like having a nice sub or lunch, but Wednesday services are like biting in to a huge and perfectly cooked chunk of spiritual steak! They are awesome! I greatly look forward to them and towards meeting with God and His church! My wife and I consider this a “primary commitment” and regularly attend with all 8 kids. Some sports seasons present a conflict and if our kids made a commitment to a team, we allow them to miss Wednesday services if it is unavoidable, but my wife and I make sure that at least one of us attends with as many kids as are available.
One of our kids was sick last night so my wife stayed home and I went with 7 kids (ages 4, 8, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14). The service is filled with so much Spirit-filled worship, prayer, cool baptisms, and communion that the time passes quickly (…and my kids have no trouble staying occupied for Terry’s boring messages…just kidding Terry!). One funny side note…I was blasting Keith Green songs on the way to service last night (quite literally…loudest the volume could go), and the kids were all singing and clapping their hands and having a great time singing “Because of You, Rushing Wind, etc.” When Terry mentioned a Keith Green “Jesus Freak” quote in his sermon, it was humorous how 7 little sets of eyes all looked at me at once.
They all know how much I love Keith Green’s music! (And yes…we blasted it on the way home too!)
Regarding having communion just on Wednesdays, I understand and submit to the church’s leadership here, but have long-felt that more balance would be in order. We moved communion to Wednesdays because it was considered an “inside event” (i.e. for believers only) that might offend “seekers”, but a “seeker” is just another word for a dying man. He is outside of Christ and alienated from God, the object of His holy wrath. He still lays at the brink of judgment, the very gates of Hell. He came to a Christian church expecting to see Christian things. If he is respectfully, but directly confronted with the fact that he is “outside the kingdom” and should refrain from participation in communion, so be it. At least he is achieving a level of understanding about how God perceives his condition and where he stands before God. If everyone walks by him to get communion while he stays seated, perhaps he will reflect during that moment on where he stands with the claims of Christ and on what prevents him from receiving Christ. Having communion 2-4 times or so per year during Sunday services would be a blessing for those who can not make Wednesday evenings, still maintain our mission to be sensitive to the lost on Sundays, and perhaps serve as a challenge to the “lost” that dwell among us for 2-4 Sundays per year.
milkman said:
I do attend communion services, and most of the time (probably 80-85% maybe) it is because I am looking forward to spending time worshiping (both through song and the act of communion) with my church family. I may not know a lot of people in the church family (I am quick to ‘hide’ backstage between services, but I’m working on that…I don’t have a history of being a very social person), but I still have this sense of family. There are some times when communion comes around and my flesh really doesn’t want to get up off the couch and go, but as I am usually scheduled to play, I am therefore “expected” to be there. I’m grateful for that too because even those times when I didn’t want to go, God would meet me there and show me something new and amazing about Himself and/or His church.
Liz Coffey said:
We go to Wednesday services and do so regularly unless, like this week, someone at the house is sick. I love Wednesday service. It fills me up. The room is so filled with the love of God and the love of my brothers and sisters that are there. I find it encouraging, uplifting, reassuring, freeing, comforting, strengthening, satisfying, so many feelings! just to be there. God has provided us with such an amazing church home and family, and to me Wednesday service is epitome of how awesome our family is when we get together.
Nancy Williams said:
Yes, I do. I only miss it when I have no choice. For me it is a sweet time. I do like the subtle difference in worship and teaching at these services, and would rather not lose that. But if God is leading us to make changes then I’ll go where He leads.
KP said:
I occasionally attend- I love having communion and think it is really important. However, like others mentioned, I attended church alone and don’t feel connected with anyone in the church. I’m not a very open person and having to turn to a group of people and share struggles and pray for each other, as we sometimes do on Wed. nights, is not always something I am comfortable with. I need to get to know people and trust them before I am feel comfortable sharing things like that. I try to attend as often as I can, but to be completely honest, its a hard service to attend if you aren’t connected. I recently joined a small group, so I’m hoping to be more connected and feel more comfortable, but DEC is a big group.
allt said:
I agree with David about adding some balance. In my opinion, when people come to church whether seeking or believers, they pretty much know that there is going to be a high chance of communion. It should not be offensive… I mean if I were a vegetarian coming to a pot luck, would I be offended that there are meat dishes? Probably not a good comparison but we are in our place of worship practicing what we believe, how is that offensive? It is part of how we practice our beliefs, its not like we are on the street side asking people to take communion as they walk by. That said with kids and work it is hard to get home after a long commute cook for the family and get to church. Plus getting my hyperactive youngest to sit still and actually be quiet is another issue. I end up only getting to communion 3 - 4 times per year though I WOULD like to come more.
I too often like I dont belong to this “family” even my small group. But it is not about that it is about God and worshiping him so I dont let that get in the way thought it would be good to have more of a sense of belonging and like people actually cared.