Lord’s Days with the Lord’s supper can be a little harried for the elders. In addition to all the normal preparations for worship, they also meet with visitors to hear their professions of faith. That way, the elders can serve the Supper confidently to brothers and sisters they have just met and not to strangers anonymously.

For many years, Reformed Presbyterian sessions did not scramble to interview visitors before worship. In a practice known as close communion, the elders administered the Supper only to those who were members of the RPCNA. This was changed in the 1960s and ’70s to session-controlled communion, in which “those who seek to commune, but are not under care of the session, must be examined.” Rather than exclude visitors, sessions now examine them to hear their profession of faith.

The practice varies to some degree among our congregations according to the needs and abilities of each session. Nevertheless, elders make an effort to hear a credible profession of faith in Jesus. This profession needs three “witnesses”: a verbal statement of belief, baptism into the church, and membership in a Bible-believing church. These three corroborate the session’s belief that this person is in fact united to Christ by faith and thus able to partake of the Father’s feast as beloved and adopted children.

In 1 Corinthians 11:28, the Apostle Paul commands each individual believer to examine himself or herself prior to partaking of the Lord’s supper. Why not just leave it at that? Let each person self-examine and decide. We do not leave individual believers to themselves in self-examination because their partaking of the supper is also communal and public. These two principles require examination by others and not just the individual.

Communion, not surprisingly, is communal. Believers do not partake privately but together, as a body. In verse 29, Paul warns us to discern the Lord’s body, which is not only spiritually represented by the bread and the cup but metaphorically expressed by the fellowship around the table. Scripture calls the church Jesus’ body. Someone needs to decide who is in that community of feast-takers and who is not. Someone needs to help us all discern who is the Lord’s body.

Likewise, in verse 26, Paul calls eating and drinking a proclamation, a public announcement of one’s share in Christ’s death. Someone needs to discern the credibility of that declaration before it is broadcast. Because we partake together, publicly declaring our participation in Jesus’ death, someone needs to sort out who partakes, that is, who demonstrates a credible faith in Christ.

Thankfully, Jesus gave such unifying, community-building people to His church (Eph. 4:11–16). The leaders of the church watch over the souls in the church (Heb. 13:7). They check to see if a person’s claim to be united to Christ is being made visible in his or her union with others (John 13:35). They make sure that all who are added to the Lord (Acts 5:14, 11:24) are likewise added to the number (Acts 2:41, 47). Because elders have been ordained by Jesus to pay careful attention to Jesus’ people (Acts 20:28), they are responsible to know who constitutes Jesus’ people.

In the end, elders examine professing believers before serving the Supper to them because this is not a feast for strangers. We do not partake anonymously. This is the Supper of God’s children, and only siblings of Jesus Christ have a seat at the table. Thus, the Supper must be restricted to professing believers who have been discerned by the elders to be brothers and sisters. Elders examine visitors to worship because it is their extraordinary honor to watch over the people of God and say to a guest, “Welcome home, brother/sister. Let us partake together.”