Advice from C of E members about whether I can take the C of E Eucharist, please

[AssignedSlytherinAtBirth]

If you are C of E, is it OK/acceptable to you that someone who used to attend a Welsh Chapel-type assembly but now wants to attend a C of E church is allowed to take the bread and wine? The issue is that I was not baptised as a baby and later confirmed, but rather was baptised (in a pool) as an adult, by the Chapel, not in order to become a member of that particular church, but just as a Christian believer. The C of E people have been incredibly welcoming and friendly but the woman I sat next to today suggested I shouldn't take the Eucharist, and after being told by someone else I could, I feel incredibly hurt, and afraid I might've offended. I really don't know much about C of E rules or conventions.

Ask your pastor, some random at church isn't the authority (I know in Catholic you'd need to get baptised again but C of E aligns with us on some things and not on others). And maybe stop oversharing about how you were baptised etc? It really isn't the sort of thing that needs to come up in conversations!

In my C of E church the invitation for communion is "any adult who is baptised and is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ".
Certainly with us there would be no question that you would be welcome to receive.

It was hardly a random conversation, OP was presumably in Church at the time. I was once asked by a lady at Mass in Florence why I wasn’t taking Communion, she was inviting me in a spirit of friendship and welcome to accompany her. I had to say that as I was Anglican, it wasn’t allowed ( she said that was silly, sometimes the parishioners are more in the spirit than the authorities).

Some people think that you need to be confirmed as a member of the C of E but as it is a state instituation this is not the case, and if you are baptised as an adult (as my children were) there is no need to "confirm".

We invite anyone 'who would take bread and wine in this church or any other' to participate. You would be very welcome. (Anyone who's never taken communion is asked to speak to the vicar). Despite being C of E, we have a baptistry (pool) which is regularly used for adult baptism, which is slightly unusual, but I can name other local C of E churches who have the same. We recognise baptism from any denomination..

In our church anyone that has been confirmed can take communion. It doesn't matter if they are a slightly different denomination.

I would have a chat with the vicar presiding and see what their view is.

Anyone that loves the Lord is welcome to our table.

I would suggest that a god who wouldn’t accept the worship of a lifelong believer because of the order/time they completed a set of arbitrary rituals is probably not worth the wafer. Ignore the gatekeeper.

In both the CoE churches I’ve attended it’s been open to anyone.

I’m very sceptical about any gatekeeping in church- you must do x to have your baby baptised, you must do y to take communion. It’s a gift of grace, there’s not meant to be strings attached. Wanting it and having an open heart should be enough.

This has been my experience of different CofE churches I've been to through the years.

I think you'll be ok, but check with the vicar. There's a thing (or was) about believers being able to take communion in each other's churches.

As for what God thinks... I couldn't speak for Him... but my guess is he's pretty open about that sort of thing. Fields, beaches, woods, hills, homes, chapels... He's likely to be there.

@SpookabooAtTheZoo you do not need to get baptised again to take communion in the RC church as baptism
Is a universal sacrament. If you are a child you need to have been catechised and made your FHC or been confirmed. Or as an adult you have to be formally received into the church.

Thank you all - I am very relieved! You have put my mind at rest. The relevance of it being a state institution is very interesting. The conversation came about as I am fairly new to this area, was sitting next to her in church this morning and she seemed lovely. She asked me if I was C of E, so I told her as in the OP. But yes, I will keep that information on a 'need to know' basis in future!

The trouble is that some people can be funny, can't they? Not everyone in a congregation will think/believe the same things. The person who invited me in the first place is someone who lead the service once, but says she's not a vicar, so I'm not sure where she fits in to the hierarchy. But she knows my history. So it's OK by her, which was why I was a bit shocked at what the other woman said.

Thanks again.

C of E is closed communion. You can take a blessing but not the bread and wine.

Individual priests like to overlook it, probably because they worry that any requirements may see off flock members, but doctrine is that it is for those who have been confirmed.

@ehb102 what you say seems to contradict Imperfect's post above about the Church of England being part of the State and communion being open to all who are baptised and profess belief in Jesus. So, which is correct, I wonder?

Shrug. Canon law is canon law. You can't just change it, no matter how wrong you think it is. Custom and practice may change but technically that's thinking you know better than God (see Brideshead Revisited last episode). I think a lot of people interpret this liberally, generously or even ignore it now.

www.churchofengland.org/about/leadership-and-governance/legal-services/canons-church-england/section-b#:~:text=the%20Holy%20Communion-,1.,shall%20receive%20that%20sacrament%20himself.

B 15A Of the admission to Holy Communion

1. There shall be admitted to the Holy Communion:

(a)
members of the Church of England who have been confirmed in accordance with the rites of that Church or are ready and desirous to be so confirmed or who have been otherwise episcopally confirmed with unction or with the laying on of hands except as provided by the next following Canon;

(b)
baptized persons who are communicant members of other Churches which subscribe to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, and who are in good standing in their own Church;

(c)
any other baptized persons authorized to be admitted under regulations of the General Synod; and

(d)
any baptized person in immediate danger of death.

The next section states if you are B and you keep coming to church, the priest in charge should get you to be confirmed.

The C of E church I used to attend do full adult immersion baptisms (using a paddling pool!). Not everyone is baptised as a baby then confirmed, it wouldn't be an issue, in that church at least. Before I was baptised I went up to receive a blessing but didn't take Holy Communion.

RC is closed communion. CofE is open, subject to baptism in some churches. Any church that is a member of Churches Together in England/Cytun in Wales has a baptism that is recognised by the CofE.

I'm not completely are but believe that you need to be confirmed to receive wine and bread?

"(b)
baptized persons who are communicant members of other Churches which subscribe to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, and who are in good standing in their own Church;"

It sounds like the OP could fall under that category.

This is from the Church of England's website:

My RC bishop friend says that if you put your hands out to receive communion, he will give it. He's not going to question everyone to their standing in the church.

Not sure why that duplicated itself. 😄

The C of E churches my family attends are on the progressive end of the spectrum and anyone is welcome to take the bread and wine in Communion. It's part of their ethos about being open and welcoming.

I have been in one church locally where the vicar made a big deal (at my nephew's baptism) about visitors not saying any of the prayers if they weren't believers as they'd be perjuring themselves in the eyes of God. While he may have had a point, it wasn't appropriate at a service with lots of visitors and came across as an unwelcoming church that no visitor would choose to find out more about.

My husband is a vicar. We invite everyone who knows and loves the Lord Jesus to receive communion in our CofE church. There are plenty of people who haven't been confirmed who receive and he has no problem with this. In fact he was baptised as an adult in a Baptist church and just before going for selection for ordination had to be confirmed at the last minute, but he had been taking communion for years before this.

Of course you can get confirmed or received into the Church of England and if you speak to your priest they can arrange this. But certainly I have never known anyone check or turn anyone away.