![]() A church sanctuary, fellowship hall, or home is an appropriate location. 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. The Love Feast has often been held on occasions when the celebration of the Lord's Supper would be inappropriate-where there is no one present authorized to administer the Sacrament, when persons of different denominations are present who do not feel free to take Holy Communion together, when there is a desire for a service more informal and spontaneous than the communion ritual, or at a full meal or some other setting to which it would be difficult to adapt the Lord's Supper. A Love Feast may also be held during a congregational supper. Christmas, New Year's Eve or Day, the weekdays of Holy Week, and the Day of Pentecost are also fitting occasions for a Love Feast. The Love Feast is also an important part of the practice of Covenant Discipleship groups. Love Feasts have often been held at Annual Conferences and Charge Conferences, where persons may report on what God has been doing in their lives and on the hope and trust they place in God for the future. While Love Feasts became less frequent in the years that followed, they continued to be held in some places and in recent years the Love Feast has been revived. As Methodists immigrated to North America they made Love Feasts an important part of early American Methodism. It quickly became a feature of the Evangelical Revival and a regular part of Methodist society meetings in Great Britain and throughout the English–speaking world. 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." His diary notes: "After evening prayers, we joined with the Germans in one of their love–feasts. John Wesley first experienced it among the Moravians in Savannah, Georgia, ten years later. 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. 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 Love Feast, or Agape Meal, is a Christian fellowship meal recalling the meals Jesus shared with disciples during his ministry and expressing the koinonia (community, sharing, fellowship) enjoyed by the family of Christ.Īlthough 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.
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