Last May, many of you know I experienced the trip of a lifetime-taking my wife to one of my favorite places on the planet: Italy. The trip ended in Venice, a location I had not been to yet. What I experienced there has left a mark on me. Literally, a Saint Mark on me. Brace yourself for some cool history. Here we go…

I believe we can help guests AND members of our churches make better connections with God and each other by sharing Communion together, holding fast to these two realities:

1. Understanding the story of communion is the only pre-condition for participation

2. If the Holy Spirit is drawing a person to receive the Meal as the story is explained, that is a "sign" of their acceptance at the Table.

What if Communion is not a cleansing ritual for Christians but a story-telling experience for all who need the gospel?

This is the question I proposed in my last post. As someone who is passionate about helping people connect to the Body of Christ, I would respond to this question in a controversial way: I believe that communion was never meant to be a time of personal cleansing of sin for a believer, but a chance to vividly understand the good news about Jesus and how that works out in everyone's life.

Now a warning: In this series on the role of Communion in assimilating people into your church, I am about to step on all kinds of tradition, notions, orthodoxy and orthopraxy when it comes to the Lord's Supper, including that of churches who may not take it at all. But since most of the two and a half billion Christians in the world take it in some form, its impact on the seekers and guests coming to your church from various traditions cannot be ignored.