Great Communion Service Offers a Call to Unity
Mark A. Taylor encourages churches and local leaders to prepare now for Great Communion observances in their communities. The article connects the service to the Restoration Movementโs unity heritage and urges readers to share plans and support the bicentennial effort.
- Local leaders are encouraged to take initiative in planning Great Communion services.
- The observance points back to Thomas Campbellโs Declaration and Address and the movementโs call to unity.
- Readers are invited to share local plans and help support the bicentennial celebration.
By Mark A. Taylor
Someone wrote as we were planning this issue to ask, โWhoโs in charge of the Great Communion service in our community?โ
She may not have been expecting the answer: โYOU are!โ
Thatโs the beautyโand the challengeโof the Great Communion idea. This Sunday next year it will happen in community after community as leaders in cities, towns, and villages plan and promote it.
Planning a Great Communion Service
The ideas on page 7 this week can help you get started. Theyโre only a part of the Web site (greatcommunion.org) with resources for the Great Communion celebration youโll lead. Youโll find the suggestions there helpful, but you already know how to lead a Communion service.
The unique vision for this Communion service is the added symbolism behind it. Two centuries after Thomas Campbell wrote Declaration and Address, a catalyst for a whole unity movement, the heirs of that movement find themselves divided. We can understand many of the reasons for that division. But we can never settle for it.
A Statement of Unity in Christ
A Great Communion service can be a powerful statement that the participants want first and most to make Christ Lord. Thatโs the basis for experiencing unity. Other discussions can follow, but joining with other Christ followers to remember the Lordโs death, burial, and resurrection is an idea that attracts and strengthens all of us.
Already Christians from Oregon to Pennsylvania have contacted us to say theyโre anticipating their observance. We want to hear about the Great Communion plans where you are! Send them to ch***************@*********ub.com, or mail them to our street address below. Weโll share your plans here and on our Web site to encourage others as they plan their Great Communion service.
Supporting the Bicentennial Celebration
And please remember the need we mentioned in this space August 3: โThis project, coordinated by the Disciples of Christ Historical Society, requires a modest budget that is already overspent.โ Iโve already sent a check to help erase the shortfall, and I encourage you and your church to do the same. (Gifts marked โBicentennial Celebrationโ can be sent to Disciples of Christ Historical Society, 1101 19th Avenue South, Nashville, Tennessee 37212.)
As Doug Foster says this week, Great Communion is a great opportunity! Itโs not too soon to decide how you and your church will express and experience it.
Author: Mark A. Taylor
Mark A. Taylor, who served as Christian Standard editor from 2003 to 2017, retired in June 2017 after almost 41 years with Standard Publishing (Christian Standard Media).
