Lords Table

Space for Worship: A Baptist View

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In addition to concerns raised in earlier articles, Baptist churches are designed in order to facilitate communication among worshipers and to serve as settings for evangelistic services.

It can be generally said that most Baptist churches are characterized by certain building features that are determined by Baptist theological emphases:

  • An emphasis on the centrality of the Bible means that the pulpit is usually centrally located.
  • The emphasis on believer’s baptism and a regenerate church calls for the baptistry to occupy a prominent place in the building.
  • The importance of the public invitation, or the altar call, means that the congregation should be close to the minister and the pulpit; the evangelistic emphasis also means it should be easy for people to move forward to make decisions. The emphasis on intimacy and immediacy is also causing some younger ministers to use pulpits that are slender stands.
  • Allowance for the choir to help in the evangelistic invitation means it is usually behind the pulpit. A recent movement toward a semicircular style of auditorium has seen some churches moving the choir to the side.
  • The Lord’s Table is usually in front of the pulpit.

For economic reasons and in order to encourage fellowship, many churches have smaller auditoriums and are holding multiple services. High steps are avoided in order to make it easier for people to come into the building.

Since they major in outreach, Baptists are especially interested in better ways to communicate. Provision is being made for visuals with rear projection screens. Consoles for special lighting effects are being installed. Development of sound systems that can encompass the entire congregation is characteristic of some of the new churches. Architectural provision is also being made for large youth choirs and for musicals and drama in the worship center. Larger foyers are provided in certain urban centers to encourage fellowship both before and after services. In many pioneer fields, multipurpose buildings are used.

One problem Baptists confront is how to gain a sense of transcendence without building high ceilings. Problems related to building costs and heating and cooling have raised serious questions about the wisdom of constructing buildings with high ceilings. A theological teaching brought to bear on this problem says the biblical emphasis is more on a journey-and-return motif after the redemptive pattern of the Prodigal Son, rather than that of an upward-and-downward motif. The context is one of man revolting against God, God’s redemptive love plan, and man’s response and return. While some architectural means of emphasizing transcendence should be utilized, the dominant biblical emphasis is on journey and return. That means evangelism and missions. The architectural emphases mentioned above are thus of primary importance.

The Breaking of Bread at the Lord’s Table

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The most primitive term for what Christians do at the Lord’s Table is “the breaking of bread” (Acts 2:42). This action in the early Christian assembly recalls how Jesus became present to his disciples in the breaking of bread at Emmaus and in other post-resurrection appearances. The breaking of bread was an occasion of great joy, as the risen Jesus became present to his assembled followers.

It is agreed that the oldest celebrations of the Lord’s Supper took place in the setting of an actual meal, in which the drinking of wine was not absolutely necessary as we find from Acts, which speaks only of “breaking of bread.” The fact that one says “breaking of bread” and not “eating of bread”—an unusual expression to designate a meal—indicates that those present were conscious of performing at the same time an act of special significance. The connection with the blood, and in general with the death, of Christ seems here to be missing. It is an essential characteristic of this meal that, as Acts 2:46 says, “exuberant joy” (author’s translation) prevailed among them. This was not aroused primarily by the remembrance of the Last Supper but is explained in the first instance by the remembrance of those other occasions on which Jesus, immediately after his resurrection, appeared to the disciples while they were having a meal. According to Luke 24:36, the Eleven ate with the risen Christ on the day of Resurrection after Jesus (Luke 24:30) had also broken bread with two disciples on the road to Emmaus shortly before.

According to Luke 24:42, as in the narrative in John 21:12ff., the meal taken with the risen Christ consisted of fish. This may to some extent account for the fact that later the symbol of the fish was associated with the Eucharist, though the symbol certainly has other roots (such as the feeding of the multitudes recorded in John 6). This symbolism also points to the connection between the early Christian celebration of the Lord’s Supper and the resurrection appearances of Christ at meals.

If the first appearances of the risen Christ took place during meals, we must take into consideration the fact that the first eucharistic feasts of the community look back to the Easter meals in which the messianic meal promised by Jesus at the Last Supper was already partly anticipated. How closely the thought of the Resurrection, in general, was linked with the recollection of those Easter meals shared with the Christ of the appearances can be gauged from Acts 10, where Peter’s address says, “God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead” (Acts 10:40–41). Acts 1:4 refers also to the risen Christ “eating with them.”

The “rejoicing” at the eucharistic meals is thus explained by the connection of this celebration with the thought of the Resurrection on the one hand, and by the connection with the thought of the messianic meal on the other hand. The eucharistic meal of the community that is gathered in Jesus’ name and at which consequently he is now effectively present in the Spirit, occupies its appointed place between Christ’s resurrection meal and the expected eschatological meal. The coming of Christ into the midst of the community gathered at the meal is in anticipation of his coming to the messianic meal and looks back to the disciples’ eating with the risen Christ in the days following the Resurrection. In the book of Revelation, which correlates the present service of worship and its fulfillment in the events of the last days, Christ says: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20). That is the answer to the old Eucharistic prayer: Maranatha! The prayer is fulfilled already in the community’s celebrations of the Lord’s Supper.

The emphasis laid on the presence of the risen Christ at these early meals is in keeping with the fact that the first Christians chose the day of Christ’s resurrection as the day for the service of worship and conforms also with the central meaning of the prayer Maranatha! The term Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11:20) also points this direction.