So here is something that I was discussing with a pastor in my local association. Do most churches practice closed or at least close communion? If someone comes to Christ in your church, and the next week you hold the observance of the Lord’s Supper, do you allow that individual to participate?
I know at many of the churches I have attended, we just ask that people are believers before they participate in this act, but the Baptist Faith and Message states:
Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper.
Seems pretty clear that unless a person has been baptised by immersion in an orthodox, Bible believing church (not sprinkled, and no LDS Baptism) then they can receive communion.
According to the BFM, you must be baptised before you take the Lord’s Supper. Do you have to be baptised in a Baptist church, or can it be an E-Free, CMA or Non-Denom church? If you have never been baptised, but are a believer in Christ can you take communion? Should the BFM be re-worded, or do more churches just need to fall in line with it?