Participating in Communion as a Family
Here at Soul we seek to empower parents and caregivers to be the primary disciple makers of their children. Our family ministry team recognizes that children and students are primarily influenced in the home, and our desire is to partner with parents and caregivers as they raise their children in the context of the Christian faith.
On the last Sunday of each month we participate in Communion (the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist) as a community. Over the last few months we’ve released our elementary age children and junior high students from their age-specific ministries so that they can rejoin their families to participate together. This is an important moment in our Gathering where we remember the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ while acknowledging his Lordship and second coming. By receiving Communion together children are able to learn through experience, modelling, and participation alongside their family members.
This Sunday, November 27, we will participate in Communion at the end of the Gathering and Soul Kids (grades K-5) and YOUNG LIFE (grades 6-8) will come downstairs to join their families. Nearing the end of our Gathering, instructions will be given to the adults in the Gathering to stand and receive the Communion elements. At this time parents and caregivers will be directed to exit the sanctuary through the doors closest to the washrooms, to pick up their child(ren) in the Atrium, and return to the sanctuary through the doors by the main entrance to receive the Communion elements together as a family.
As you prepare to take communion as a family, here is a short guide which can serve as a tool to help your child(ren) understand what they are participating in.
Invite your child to list all the symbols they can think of. Some ideas may be a heart for love, a cake for a birthday, the big yellow M for McDonalds, a cross for Jesus. Remind your child that a symbol represents something else and that as soon as we see it we immediately think of what it represents.
Review the good news of Jesus' life, death and resurrection with your child by having them draw a picture or symbol for each part of the story. Use the basic framework of Jesus' birth, inviting his disciples to follow him, Jesus healing the sick, performing miracles, teaching people how to love God, being put to death on a cross and rising from the dead.
Read 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 with your child. Explain that Communion is a symbolic opportunity for us to remember what Jesus did for us. Remind your child that communion declares Christ’s death in anticipation of his future return. The symbols of the bread and juice help us immediately remember what Jesus did for us and to thank him for this gift of salvation.