So my husband, who is Jewish, does not practice the faith he was raised in. We still celebrate Jewish holidays with his family and go to temple once a year, but other than that, he has been searching for something else spiritually, which I think is great.
He has been attending services at a church in our area that describes itself as cell-based, evangelical and aligned with the Christian Missionary and Alliance (CMA). If anyone is familiar with this, can you please tell me a little bit about this group's views on the Eucharist? I am Catholic so we have very strict views - that whoever receives the Eucharist is receiving the body and blood of Christ and you cannot receive the the Eucharist without having been baptized into the church and receiving the sacrament of First Holy Communion (either as a child or as part of converting to Catholicism as an adult). What does this church believe? I guess that they don't do Eucharist regularly but they do serve it sometimes and I don't want my husband receiving if he's not supposed to, but I don't want him to deny himself this experience if the rules are looser.
Thanks mamas!
My mom has attended a CMA church.
Here's the national website:
http://www.cmalliance.org/about/beliefs/
I think it is very, very active in outreach ministries and missions in other countries.
I grew up in a CMA church. They are very similar to Baptist in doctrine and practice. They don't call it Eucharist, but communion. They allow baptised believers to take the communion, which is usually the first Sunday of the month (not always, each church can do it their own way, but that was typical from my experience). There are very strong doctrinal differences between Catholic and CMA churches. I would suggest meeting with the pastor to discuss their doctrines and use that time to ask questions. Protestants do not believe that you are actually taking the body and blood of Christ. We believe that Christ said, "It is finished." And he meant it. He does not need to be sacrificed repeatedly. We believe it is a means of grace. It isn't merely a symbol, it is more than that, but we do not believe a miracle of some sort takes place on the altar causing the elements to become Christ. I am no longer in the CMA as I am Reformed and hold to the Doctrines of Grace, but hopefully my comment will help clarify some for you.
We were married United Church of Christ. Within the religion there is no first communion the only sacrament is confirmation. I don't know if the confirmation sacrament includes communion understanding since my nephew hasn't made his yet.
We were asked if we wanted communion at our wedding I said I didn't know you gave communion since it is not part of the usual service. They told me they do but then asked the make up of our family. I said we are all Catholic. I was told then don't bother, no one is more picky about their communion and will not partake if it is presented in another church. It also tends to make them uncomfortable. You will have to take that at face value because I did not drill down on what he meant, we marked no communion and moved on.
It's my understanding that the non-catholic churches view the eucharist as symbolizing the body and blood of Christ, whereas catholics believe in the real presence, and for them, the eucharist *is* the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ. For catholics, only an ordained priest may consecrate the bread and wine. For non-catholics, because it's just symbolic, any old person can prepare the eucharist.
Not sure what the CMA church's views are on non-christians receiving their eucharist, but I'd be surprised if they have a problem with it. I know that you have to be "in communion" with the catholic church's beliefs to receive communion there.
Ask this question of the minister of the church he's attending. Protestant churches view the Eucharist very differently than the Catholic churches.
