COMMUNION

JESUS IS THE CENTER

Throughout worship at Citizens Church communion is available at the tables for those who would like to participate.  Like the early church we allow communion to be celebrated weekly in order to declare that Jesus is the center of everything we have and everything we do.

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”
– Acts 2:42

“When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat.”
– 1 Corinthians 11:20

“On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.”
– Acts 20:7

CORPORATELY AND INDIVIDUALLY

Sometimes we celebrate communion corporately as a picture of the unified Body of Christ and sometimes individually to allow for people to participate in a manner of self-examination.

“Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.”
– 1 Corinthians 11:27-32

WHO CAN PARTICIPATE

Anyone who has received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and has examined himself/herself can participate in communion.  As we examine our hearts before God we first become givers… giving to Him our sin in confession and our lives as an act of worship.  We then find ourselves at as receivers…  receiving His mercy, His grace and His forgiveness offered to us through the finished work of the Cross.