It is common practice for Covenant Discipleship and other small groups within the community of faith to include sharing in Holy Communion as part of their gathering. These group meetings are sometimes held in a member’s home, at church, or, in the case of my own group (7 lay and clergy coworkers at the General Board of Discipleship), in a room at work. Our situation is like that of other groups in that we come together for a brief time of mutual accountability within the busy-ness of our daily schedules.

Our group’s covenant calls for us to share Holy Communion or the Love Feast in our meetings. Recognizing the equality we share in Christ and the requirement that an ordained person administer the sacrament of Holy Communion, we use an abridged form of the Love Feast when a layperson conducts our meetings.

The United Methodist Book of Worship contains historical information, suggestions for the use of the Love Feast, and appropriate hymns and Scriptures, as well as the service itself (pp. 582-84). Given the time constraints of our Covenant Discipleship meeting, it is impossible for us to use this full service. We use a briefer order, which contains some elements and preserves the forms of the Love Feast. For instance, we use the ancient prayers of the Didache from the early centuries of the Christian faith taken from the Orthodox Love Feast. We also use as the prayer before eating the bread another early Christian prayer whose tradition is that it was the prayer Jesus often used when he gave thanks for food.

We have placed our group’s Covenant within the Love Feast, and we usually read each clause together as a group, followed by each individual in turn giving personal accountability. The reading of our Covenant and each member’s time of accountability serve in place of the Address or Personal Witness to the SCRIPTURE and the Testimonies, Prayers, Singing portions of the Love Feast in the Book of Worship. Following the passing of the bread and cup, we conclude with a verse of a hymn or doxology and prayer. When we use this Love Feast, we give a copy to everyone present.

Permission is hereby given for you to use and adapt our order in your Covenant Discipleship group, substituting your own Covenant in place of ours.

Dean McIntyre is Director of Music Resources, General Board of Discipleship, Nashville, TN.