Expert: Bruce Gourley - 8/6/2009

Question
well first of all i'm a pastor of a church , but i witness something last night really bothered me i need and answer i think that i'm right i want to be sure well we were in our regular association meeting and we had the  lord supper first the moderator didn't bless it he blessed everybody else but not the supper then , he served himself  i was always taught that even thou were the administer we still need to be served am i  right or am i wrong

Answer
There is no one official manner in which Baptists observe the Lord's Supper; the manner is left up to each individual local church or body observing the Lord's Supper. So it is not a matter of right or wrong (biblically or otherwise), but rather a matter of the tradition of a given local church or other Baptist body. And even then, Baptists traditions in local churches change over time (for example, Sunday School and altar calls were not practices of early Baptist churches).

I can speak in generalities and tell you that probably most Baptist churches have a church member serve the bread and wine to the pastor, but again, this is not an official Baptist position.

Perhaps the best way to address different ways of serving the Lord's Supper is to ask, in your particular case, your associational moderator why he chose to conduct the Lord's Supper the way he did. You may find that this is the tradition within his own local church, or he may have another explanation.

Bruce Gourley
www.baptistlife.com
www.brucegourley.com