LifeWay Research has released new data on Southern Baptist pastors’ views on the Lord’s Supper. The data are rather surprising.
From LifeWay Research:
LifeWay surveys Lord’s Supper practices of SBC churches
By Carol Pipes
NASHVILLE, Tenn.— The majority of Southern Baptist churches permit anyone who has put their faith in Jesus Christ to participate in the Lord’s Supper, according to a recent survey by LifeWay Research. The survey also revealed that 57 percent of SBC churches observe the Lord’s Supper quarterly.
“Denominational distinctives are often evident in how the Lord’s Supper is observed,” said Scott McConnell, director of LifeWay Research. “We sought to measure two attributes of Southern Baptists’ remembrance of Jesus’ death and resurrection: who may participate in the Lord’s Supper– with five distinct options listed– and the frequency it is observed.”
The survey of 1,066 SBC pastors found 96 percent of their churches allow individuals who are not members of that local church to participate in the Lord’s Supper. Only 4 percent restrict participation to local church members.
According to the survey, 52 percent of SBC churches offer the Lord’s Supper to “anyone who has put their faith in Jesus Christ.” Thirty-five percent say “anyone who has been baptized as a believer” may participate. Five percent of SBC churches serve communion to “anyone who wants to participate,” while 4 percent of churches don’t specify any conditions for participation.
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What say you? Do these statistics surprise you?
September 18, 2012 at 7:08 am
[...] practices among SBC churches conducted by Lifeway, an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention. While some found the survey results to be surprising, my own observation is that these results reveal what many believed to have been the practice among [...]
January 14, 2013 at 7:56 am
[...] to recent LifeWay Research data, the Baptist Faith and Message 2000′s article on the Lord’s Supper no longer reflects [...]
September 17, 2012 at 3:56 pm
I take the approach I saw at my church growing up: the table is open to all believers who are members in good standing in an evangelical church. This makes some bold assumptions (especially these days) but seems to strike a good balance: assumes the person is not under discipline for moral or theological issues; assumes they are baptized; assumes their theology generally aligns with the church.
September 17, 2012 at 3:56 pm
Disappoint, yes– surprise, no.
September 17, 2012 at 4:11 pm
the 52% is no surprise, but the 5% that serve communion to “anyone who wants to participate” is a bit surprising & scary.
September 17, 2012 at 4:15 pm
Makes me think of a story I saw once about a church doing drive-through communion; they set up tables in the church parking lot and let anyone pull up, take the elements, and drive on.
September 17, 2012 at 4:59 pm
Not surprising….seems we have lost the seriousness of the Lord’s Table and what Paul warns about in 1 Corinthians.
September 17, 2012 at 5:58 pm
At what point do we stop being Baptists in practice?
Regenerate church membership is already greatly in peril as a Southern Baptist belief. Now this data, it seems we Southern Baptists are barely Baptist.
September 17, 2012 at 6:09 pm
BFM 2000:
“A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers”
“The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.”
Church is made up of baptized believers. Church members are the ones partaking of the supper. To open up the table the way 61% are doing seems to run contrary to our denominational statement of faith, unless I am missing an “out” somewhere.
September 17, 2012 at 8:21 pm
Don,
You are right on the mark. Our own confession is being ignored by a majority of Southern Baptists. When will the alarm be sounded by the SBC leaders?