Parsing a Passing Distinction
by Chuck Colson
After a narrow loss at last year’s General Assembly, a new round of overtures has appeared for 2026 seeking to restrict who can distribute the elements of the Lord’s Supper to the congregation (Overtures 31 and 60). Due to ambiguity around what it means to distribute, the overtures distinguish what it means “to serve” the elements from what it means “to pass” the elements. The overall aim of the overtures is to restrict non-ordained officers from participating in serving the elements. Overture 31 restricts the distribution to ordained ruling elders; Overture 60 restricts it to ordained officers.
There are several issues in these overtures that deserve scrutiny; however, for the sake of brevity, I’ll focus on the proposed distinction between “serving” and “merely passing” the elements.
Distributing the Elements
In the PCA, a variety of methods are used to distribute the elements, complicating any attempt to distinguish between “serving” and “merely passing” them. Consider the following four common patterns of distribution found across our denomination:
Dine-in—believers come forward to sit at a table where the elements are distributed among them. In a few congregations, believers come forward to kneel at an altar rail where the elements are distributed to them.
Drive-thru—believers come forward to be served at a station where they receive the elements, along with a spoken word regarding the sacrament (The body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was broken for you / the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ which was shed for you), and consume the elements at the station.
Takeout—believers come forward to pick up the elements, either from a person or a table, and return to their seats to take the elements in unison with the congregation.
Delivery—believers remain seated and receive the elements from a tray passed down their row and consume the elements with the congregation in unison.
It is important to recognize that each of these means of distribution involves various points of delivery where the distinction between serving and passing gets fuzzy.
For instance, if a congregation uses the Dine-in method, does the distribution and division of the elements down the table through the hands of non-ordained members constitute serving or passing? If this act counts as passing, what distinguishes it from a non-ordained member delivering a tray to the end of a pew?
Or, if a congregation uses the Delivery method and a non-ordained person hands the elements to the person next to them, does this count as serving or passing? What distinguishes the act of delivering a tray to the end of a pew from delivering it to the next person on your pew? Or, what if a member shares a spoken word regarding Christ’s sacrifice with his neighbor as he passes the elements to him? Is this passing or serving?
This raises a series of questions that call the distinction between serving and passing into question. Where does serving end and passing begin? At what point does the act transform from one to the other? Is serving connected to a spoken word delivered with the sacramental elements? Or is serving bound up with optics and perception flowing from the front of the sanctuary?
In the end, the lack of clarity between serving and passing undermines the usefulness of the overture because the distinction produces more confusion than clarity.
Recommendation for Distribution
In our tumultuous moment, it is helpful to return to historical practices, not to slavishly repeat the past, but to learn from the wisdom of previous generations. To that end, John Knox’s order for observing the Lord’s Supper is a liturgical masterpiece that deserves our attention.
In the liturgy, the presiding minister delivers the WORDS OF INSTITUTION and EXHORTATION from the pulpit and then takes a seat with the congregation at a common table. After offering a lengthy PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING, the rubric in the liturgy reads:
This done, the minister breaks the bread and delivers it to the people, who distribute and divide the same among themselves, according to our Savior Christ’s commandment, and likewise gives the cup. During which time, some place of the Scriptures is read, which sets forth the death of Christ in a lively way, to the intent that our eyes and senses may not only be occupied in these outward signs of bread and wine, which are called the visible word, but that our hearts and minds also may be fully fixed in the contemplation of the Lord’s death, which is by this Holy Sacrament represented.
Let’s consider Knox’s twofold distinction: (1) the delivery of the consecrated elements by the presiding minister to the people and (2) the distribution and division of the elements among the people by the people. Significantly, after the presiding minister gives thanks and delivers the elements to the people, Knox assigns the distribution and division to them. In allowing believers to divide the elements among themselves, Knox indicates that this mode of distribution is in obedience to Christ’s commandment (Luke 22:17). Therefore, Knox does not connect the means of distribution to the keys of the kingdom through the ordained officers but connects it to a Scriptural commandment that democratizes the action.
Additionally, it is important to note that the focus, in Chapter 22 of the Scots Confession, is upon a lawfully ordained minister administering the Lord’s Supper, not the elders controlling the distribution of the elements around the table (pace Overture 60). For Knox, the distribution and division of the elements is a matter of sharing the spoils in keeping with Jesus’ appointment, not a flex of ecclesiastical authority.
This seems wise and judicious. To claim a necessary connection between the details of the distribution and the keys of the kingdom is a bridge too far. This goes well beyond Scripture into a level of micro-management that is imprecise and unhelpful.
Conclusion
Perhaps one reason Knox was not preoccupied with the distribution is that he focused his liturgy on the act of thanksgiving and creating a warm evangelical ethos around the table that was aimed to fix hearts and minds on Jesus Christ. For the sake of our own renewal and unity, we would do well to focus our denominational attention on thanksgiving and the Christ-centered ethos that Knox sought to nurture around the Lord’s Table, and not the minutiae of dubious distinctions.
Chuck Colson is the Lead Pastor of ChristChurch Presbyterian in Atlanta and serves as a Visiting Lecturer of Pastoral Theology at RTS, Orlando. He received his Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from the University of Aberdeen.