Practicing “Close” Communion

Is your Southern Baptist church in alignment with the Baptist Faith & Message 2000? Baptism preceding membership and the Lord’s Supper might be an area to examine.

The BF&M has been around since 1925 and the current version has been active since 2000. I went back and looked at the 1925 version of our two ordinances: baptism and Lord’s Supper and made a comparison regarding the sequence of baptism preceding membership and the Lord’s Supper.

There is a phrase that has been common to all Southern Baptists for 100 years: [Baptism] is prerequisite to the privileges of a church membership and to the Lord’s Supper. The 1925 version used the phrase “relation” instead of membership.

What the BF&M has described has become known as Close Communion. When I was growing up, we practiced Closed Communion. That meant only baptized members of our church could take the Lord’s Supper. There was a shift and I do remember the church vote, that made the Lord’s Supper open to all followers of Jesus. This meant that a person could receive Christ as Savior and then immediately take the Lord’s Supper. By the BF&M, baptism should precede membership. And only members of like-minded churches could take communion.

When a new pastor came to Cincinnati, he went through the BF&M 2000 with his church’s deacons. The issue of Close Communion was identified as not being followed. It seems that there had been a couple who made a profession of faith in Jesus, but had never been baptized or voted in as members. They continued to partake in the Lord’s Supper. The pastor went to visit the couple with a deacon and explained the situation. And, the couple never returned to the church.

The policing of the policy is very difficult. How would anyone know? But yet, when churches are made up of born again baptized believers, then the membership status, including baptism should be known and addressed. Close communion more accurately aligns with Scripture and should be observed, especially by churches wanting to be in good standing with the SBC and CABA.

References from the BF&M 2000 do not mention baptism being a pre-requisite to membership and the Lord’s Supper: Matthew 3:13-17; 26:26-30; 28:19-20; Mark 1:9-11; 14:22-26; Luke 3:21-22; 22:19-20; John 3:23; Acts 2:41-42; 8:35-39; 16:30-33; 20:7; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 10:16,21; 11:23-29; and Colossians 2:12.

May your church take our ordinances very seriously, even the issue of Close Communion.