THE LORD’S SUPPER IN THE CHURCH OF PENTECOST, AYIGYA ROYAL ASSEMBLY: A STUDY OF FACTORS THAT HINDER CHURCH MEMBERS PARTICIPATION

Abstract

The importance of The Lord‟s Supper celebration in the Christian Church can never be over-emphasized. It is regarded as the highest form of corporate Christian worship and a precious time in the life of a believer when he is focused on remembering and giving thanks for the once and for all sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. Although scholars vary in their opinions, the New Testament accounts indicate it was instituted during Jesus' last meal before his suffering and crucifixion (Mark 14:22-25, Matt 26:26-29, Luke 22:13-20). The traditional view of the Church has always been that Jesus instituted the Supper at a paschal meal. Very Ancient documents such as The Didache (Greek: teaching) which most scholars date to the late 1st century is an early church teaching with instructions for Baptism and the Eucharist and identifies in it two separate Eucharistic traditions, the earlier tradition in chapter 10 and the later one preceding it in chapter 9. The Eucharist is mentioned again in chapter 14. Ignatius of Antioch (born c. 35 or 50, died between 98 and 117), who is one of the Apostolic Fathers, speaks of the Eucharist as "the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ", and Justin Martyr speaks of it as more than a meal: "the food over which the prayer of thanksgiving, the word received from Christ, has been said ... is the flesh and blood of this Jesus who became flesh ... and the deacons carry some to those who are absent”. The Lord‟s Supper is very important and so familiar to most Christian worshippers, and yet very few participate in it. This has been the observation in the Church of Pentecost, Ayigya District in recent times and it is a nagging concern for the leadership. But the real reasons for the low patronage of the Lord‟s Supper celebration in the church, has not been investigated. This study therefore sought to investigate the factors that could account for this phenomenon of low patronage of the Lord‟s Supper. It was based on a survey vii conducted in the Church of Pentecost, Ayigya Royal Assembly between first July and 31st July, 2016. Questionnaires were randomly administered to seventy (70) participants, both males and females of varying educational levels and ages and interviews were conducted with some of the church members to help with the data collection. According to the respondents, the following are the factors that hinder their participation in the Lord‟s Supper: sin, baptism, health and hygiene issues, communion not being necessary, and other non-specified reasons. Of the seventy participants, enrolled in the study, sin was the number one hindrance to about 70% of respondents. Baptism served as the hindrance to 47.1% of respondents while health and hygiene was a hindrance to 11.4% of the respondents. Five members representing 7.1% of the congregation felt the Lord‟s Supper is irrelevant in today‟s worship and an overwhelming majority of the members of the church of Pentecost- Ayiga Royal Assembly; more than ninety percent (92.9%) of the respondents have the conviction that the celebration of the Lord‟s Supper is very relevant in our Christian life today.