Annual WSF Love Feast 2018

Our annual WSF Love Feast comes up on the 24th November, 2018.

Venue: The Church Premises

Time: 3:00PM

It shall be a time of love and sharing among the brethren.. We are all enjoined to fully be a part of it from our various cell centres. Also, encourage your new converts and contacts to be there.

THE LOVE FEAST

Brief History

The Love Feast also known as Agape Meal, is a Christian fellowship meal recalling the meals Jesus shared with disciples during his ministry and expressing the community, sharing and fellowship enjoyed by the family of Christ.

The early Church had times of food and fellowship much as we do today, and it seems that these times were called "love feasts." Eating together is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 11:21 (as part of a rebuke to the believers in Corinth) and in 2 Peter 2:13 (as part of a rebuke to false teachers). In Jude 1:12, the meals are specifically called "love feasts"—again, the context is that of rebuking false teachers. Around AD 90 Pliny the Younger in To Trajan, Book 10, Letter 97 notes that the love feast was common among Christians in Rome. Ignatius of Antioch (a disciple of John's), around the same time period, mentions the love feast in his letter to the Smyrnaeans.

The love feast seems to have been held in association with the Lord's Supper, according to 1 Corinthians 11 (although that passage never mentions "love feasts" by that name). Most likely, the love feast was a shared or communal meal somewhat like a potluck in present-day churches. Church members would bring food; the more affluent would bring a greater supply and in that way provided for the needy (Acts 6:1). The body of Christ showed its love at the love feasts. At some point, as the Church was gathered, they would observe the ordinance of communion. The breaking of bread in Acts 20:7 could allude to a love feast (Acts 2:42), although Jude 1:12 is the only place in Scripture where a love feast is explicitly mentioned.

Although its origins in the early Church are closely interconnected with the origins of the Lord's Supper, the two services became quite distinct and should not be confused with each other. While the Lord's Supper has been practically universal among Christians throughout church history, the Love Feast has appeared only at certain times and among certain denominations.

The modern history of the Love Feast began when Count Zinzendorf and the Moravians in Germany introduced a service of sharing food, prayer, religious conversation, and hymns in 1727. John Wesley first experienced it among the Moravians in Savannah, Georgia, ten years later. His diary notes: "After evening prayers, we joined with the Germans in one of their love–feasts. It was begun and ended with thanksgiving and prayer, and celebrated in so decent and solemn a manner as a Christian of the apostolic age would have allowed to be worthy of Christ."

The Love Feast is most naturally held around a table or with persons seated in a circle; but it is possible to hold it with persons seated in rows. A church sanctuary, fellowship hall, or home is an appropriate location.

One of the advantages of the Love Feast is that any Christian may conduct it. Congregational participation and leadership are usually extensive and important, especially involving children.

Why Does Love Feast Matter?

To understand the need for love feast, we must know and understand the true core of love feast and how it applies to our daily lives.

Cores Of Love Feast

Submission: When we celebrate the Love Feast we ought to be formed to submit to God and to one another. We can do this by obeying the command of Christ by feetwashing. When Christians wash feet, they obey the command of Christ to wash feet in John 13:14 and they submit to one another in humble service
Love: Most Christians know that we are supposed to love God, one another, to love strangers, and to even love our enemies. And obviously the Love Feast should be an opportunity to show this love to others. One of the ways that this love is expressed powerfully is through table fellowship, through sharing food together. One of the ways that this love is expressed powerfully is through table fellowship, through sharing food together.
Confession: By confession, I mean the broad biblical understanding of confession, which includes confessing our faith (confessing that Jesus is Lord), confessing praises to God, and confessing sin. Too often we focus on only confessing sin, and thus neglect the broader importance of confession for the people of God.
Reconciliation: When we come together to celebrate the Love Feast, we bring our baggage with us. Celebrating the Love Feast ought to give us the opportunity to find reconciliation with our brothers and sisters. This was the underlying purpose of the holy kiss, or the passing of the peace. Shifting cultural mores that have eliminated the holy kiss should not also cause us to lose sight of the importance of reconciliation in the Love Feast.
Thanksgiving: A Love Feast ought to be an occasion for giving thanks to God. In other words, a Love Feast should be a joyful celebration. One of the best ways to give thanks is to celebrate the wonders of God in our lives through testimonies and praise. Testimonies may include personal witness to God's grace or accounts of what God has been doing in the lives of others. Praise may take the form of hymns, songs, choruses, or spoken exclamations and may vary from the relative formality of an opening and closing hymn to spontaneous calling out of requests and singing as the Spirit moves.

The Love Feast matters because people today are longing to know and experience the love of God. The Love Feast matters because people are looking for authentic ways to worship and love one another. Submission, Love, Confession, Reconciliation, and Thanksgiving. These should be at the heart of the Love Feast