All posts Should a church lose tax-exempt status over its communion practices?
11/9/2012 8:04:17 AM
By Carmen Fowler LaBerge with Scott Lamb
When a local congregation practices the Lord’s Supper, who should participate?
Although other variations and definitions of the terms exist, the two main answers to that question are:
(1) Open communion: membership in that particular local congregation is not necessary. Anyone who examines themselves and knows that they are in Christ may participate.
(2) Closed communion: whether someone is a professing Christian or not, communion is restricted to actual members of that congregation.
These are fantastic areas for vigorous Biblical and theological debate and reflection. What at first may seem to be a “majoring on minors,” the discussion quickly opens into core concerns: the nature of the Gospel, regenerate church membership, church discipline, the marks of the church, etc.
In the end, whether a congregation holds to “open communion” or “closed communion,” the vital concern is for local congregations and pastors to search and study the Scriptures and ground their church practice on the authority of the Scripture.
But what if the government weighs in on this discussion?
Last week in the UK, a parliamentary select committee met to hear evidence that a Plymouth Brethren group may be denied charity status by the Charity Commission. The Charity Commission is the government agency that “registers and regulates charities in England and Wales” Although not an exact parallel, this would be similar to the Internal Revenue Service of the United States deciding that a church or denomination no longer qualified for 501(c)3 tax-exempt status.
So, what did this particular Plymouth Brethren group do to endanger their charity status? They practice closed communion:
“The right of churches to decide for themselves who may attend Holy Communion is being challenged by the Charity Commission. The Commission has refused to register a Plymouth Brethren group because its Holy Communion services are for members only. This would have a huge impact on the group’s tax relief and would also have other implications.”
Of course, the larger issue is about much more than Communion practices. The Commission would be setting a precedent that religious groups do not have an intrinsic characteristic of existing for the benefit of the public.
As reported in The Telegraph the Charity Commission argued that “there is no presumption that religion generally, or at any more specific level, is for the public benefit, even in the case of Christianity or the Church of England.”
If this decision by the Commission stands, the effect would be chilling. We will track this story and report on future developments.