Oversight over the Lord’s Supper

Do the elders of a local New Covenant church have an oversight responsibility over the Lord’s Table as it relates to the Lord’s Supper?

Elders are overseers. See Titus 1:5b–7a. In Acts 20:17, Paul calls for the elders of the church, and then in verse 28, Paul charges the elders with an oversight responsibility for the church of God:

“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.”

If elders are charged with guarding and caring for the whole flock, that responsibility must include the church’s gathered worship and its ordinances. Consider the extent of this oversight responsibility. Would it not include preaching, teaching, discipleship, stewardship, and what else? Elders are responsible for sound doctrine in the local church. Are elders permitted to officiate weddings of believers to marry unbelievers? Wouldn’t that be a clear violation of God’s Word? Paul says plainly, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers” (2Co 6:14). And, of course, they oversee church discipline.

Marriage, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper are all visible covenant acts of the church. If elders are accountable to guard doctrinal and moral boundaries in matters such as marriage and discipline, then that same boundary-guarding responsibility necessarily applies to the Lord’s Supper.

In Matthew 18, the last step in dealing with sin and offense is to tell it to the church. The elders lead the church in establishing who is inside the church and who isn’t. When Jesus says, “Tell it to the church,” He means a particular group of people. Study 1Co 5:1–12.

The elders also oversee the ordinance of baptism. Converts don’t baptize themselves. No one tells us that we will baptize them. Wouldn’t the same hold true for the other church ordinance?

If there is complete agreement that the elders oversee the ordinance of baptism, then we can infer that they would also oversee the Lord’s Supper. If the plurality of elders can deny someone the ordinance of baptism, would they not also be able to determine if someone can or cannot participate in the Supper? There exists a shared responsibility between the church, its elders, and individuals regarding the Lord’s Supper.

Finally, Paul expresses the gravity of the Lord’s Supper when he tells the church at Corinth, “That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died” (1Co 11:30). How can we not take participation seriously? How can we not insist on knowing who is and isn’t participating?

Elders do not own the Lord’s Supper Table. It is Christ’s. But, concerning the Lord’s Supper, elders have oversight and shepherding responsibilities over the following areas:

1. The sacredness of the Supper.
2. The gospel proclamation.
3. The Scripture readings.
4. The expression of thanksgiving.
5. The elements themselves.
6. The frequency.
7. The participants.
8. The instructions for self-examination.
9. The unity of the church.
10. Teaching on the Lord’s Supper.

In the weeks ahead, we will examine these ten areas more carefully from Scripture, seeking to understand how Christ intends His Table to be guarded, administered, and cherished in the life of the local church.