What in the world is a “Love Feast”?

A Love Feast is simply a fellowship meal which revolves around the Lord’s Supper—the remembrance of Jesus’ death and resurrection. “Love Feast” (Greek: Agape) is a term found in the New Testament to describe the fellowship meals that were common in the first century church. Here is a helpful paragraph from Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary:

LOVE FEAST — a meal shared by the early Christians when they met together for fellowship and the Lord’s Supper. The term love feast is clearly used only in Jude 12 (feasts of charity; KJV). But some Greek manuscripts support “love feasts” instead of “deceptions” in 2 Peter 2:13. The love feast is also referred to in 1 Corinthians 11:17–34, and probably in Acts 6:1–3, although neither passage in English versions of the Bible uses the term. The Greek word for “love feast” also is one of the New Testament words for “love,” indicating that the meal was originally intended to be a rich experience of God’s love. The purpose of the love feast was to remember Christ, to encourage His disciples, and to share God’s provisions with the needy. (Youngblood, R. F., Bruce, F. F., Harrison, R. K., & Thomas Nelson Publishers. (1995). Nelson’s New illustrated Bible dictionary. Nashville: T. Nelson.)

We tend to think of fellowship meals only as a time for Christians to get together and eat. But many believe the Love Feasts were one of the reasons why the early church flourished and grew so rapidly. Robert Banks has written a fictional account of what the gatherings of the early church were like. The book is entitled Going to Church in the First Century. In the preface, he writes:

“We have lost something vital in the twenty centuries since (the beginning of the church). And even though we can’t go back and simply imitate what the earliest christians did, the essential character of their meeting can be given appropriate twentieth century expression.”

What was that “essential character”? Love! Why else would they call them Love Feasts? Non-Christians were invited in and made to feel welcome among the believers. They were given a meal and got to see and hear what Christians were really all about: Love for Christ, love for family, love for the church and love for people. In a time when many voices are telling the world what Christians are all about, it is vital for the world to see first hand the love we have for one another—the love that will identify us as belonging to Jesus Christ (John 13:35).

In 2010, CBC is celebrating Love Feasts quarterly. The hope is that these will be a fresh way to worship God and connect with people. We’ll break from the routine with testimonies and different voices speaking and, of course, by sharing a meal together. We’ll also invite everyone to share with the less fortunate in various ways.

In our first Love Feast on November 15, 2009, we invited four men to take part in the message of the Kerygma (“the preaching” or gospel)—each taking about 10 minutes each. Three of the men are apprentices in our Antioch School—Kenny Kies, Nate Morsches and Jesse Schultz. The fourth was our Worship Leader, Tim Northup. Kenny focused on the Old Testament message regarding the Messiah. His message was entitled, “He’s Coming!” (click on the links to go to our podcast and listen). Nate focused on the primary message of the Messiah in the Gospels—”He came!” Jesse followed with a focus on the return of Christ in a message entitled, “He’s Coming Again!” Tim wrapped up the morning with a message about the response God desires from each of us: “Believe!”

In our second Love Feast, on February 7, 2010, we heard the testimonies of two of CBC’s families who are participating in foster care and have adopted multiple children. It was great to hear such a powerful, pro-life message preached through the lives and stories of these two families. 

Please join us Sunday, May 23, starting at 10:30 a.m. for our next Love Feast. We will hear from Barbara Watkins of the Pregnancy Care Center in Lawrence, and the testimony of one of our members who made a pro-life choice in the midst of a crisis pregnancy.