The Lord’s Supper

Bethel celebrates the Lord’s Supper together as a congregation weekly.

We do not require partakers to be a member of our local church. However, we do believe they should be current members in good standing at a church where the Bible is taught and the gospel is proclaimed.

We believe that the Lord’s Supper is a good and important part of the life of the church, given by Jesus to bless His people. The Bible teaches that the elders of the church have the responsibility for guiding the spiritual life of the church (Hebrews 13:17), protecting the purity of the church, and shepherding the flock of God (Acts 20:28), and that includes the Supper. To fulfill this weighty responsibility, Presbyterians believe that church membership is both biblical and vital in a day of individualism.

We need to be united in a common confession of faith. Elders cannot oversee the care of the Lord’s people unless they know who those people are, hence the need for a public profession of faith in Christ as an expression of a person’s faith in Christ.

When God converts people, they are added to the church (Acts 2:27).

The Orthodox Presbyterian Church’s Directory for the Public Worship of God states that “No one shall be allowed to take part in the celebration of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper who has not first made public profession of faith in Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord” (DW V.4).

That means before a person comes to the Table they need to declare that they are trusting in Jesus Christ alone for salvation.

In the OPC this means an interview with the elders and public commitment to membership questions.

And this confession of faith in Christ is to be joined to a life of daily obedience to Christ’s word trusting in His grace.

This does not mean that a person must be a member of Bethel Reformed OPC to come to the Lord’s Table, only that he/she should be a member of a biblically sound church where Jesus Christ is confessed as Lord and Savior.

In light of these things, to help the elders labor to see the Supper be edifying to the Lord’s people, we request that visitors speak with an elder prior to the beginning of the service concerning participation in the Supper if they have questions.

We ask that parents instruct their children of the need to wait until they have professed faith before participating in the Supper that Christ might be pleased and all might be blessed.

The session encourages all who have professed their faith in Jesus Christ, God’s Son, as their only Savior from sin and their only Lord, to come to the Table that they might be spiritually strengthened having first examined themselves (1 Corinthians 11:28) that the Supper might enlarge our hope in Christ.