Leading a Love Feast

by David E Flavell

So when was the last time you invited your congregation to offer testimony during a service? Last week? Last year? Never? The Early Methodists would have been surprised to find that this element was no longer found in our congregational life, because to them it was something normal and natural. However, if a Local Preacher asked for volunteers today, my guess is that there would be a long silence in many chapels!

There is another way of eliciting testimonies which allows for the nervously shy, and that is the Love Feast.

In all branches of Methodism the Love Feast was a significant part of the Revival. Folk would gather to share from a Loving Cup, and to hear what God had been doing in people’s lives. They would offer a hymn, a psalm, a prayer or a testimony and encourage and exhort one another.

In A Plain Account Of The People Called Methodists Wesley explained why Love Feasts were held:

In order to increase in them a grateful sense of all his mercies, I desired that, one evening in a quarter, all the men in band, on a second, all the women, would meet; and on a third, both men and women together; that we might together “eat bread,” as the ancient Christians did, “with gladness and singleness of heart.” At these love-feasts (so we termed them, retaining the name, as well as the thing, which was in use from the beginning) our food is only a little plain cake and water. But we seldom return from them without being fed, not only with the “meat which perisheth,” but with “that which endureth to everlasting life.”

As the revival cooled, the Love Feast died out through the latter half of the nineteenth century, and now few Methodists have actually attended one. Yet with the 200th anniversary of the first Primitive Methodist Camp Meeting, interest is once again rising.

Running a Love Feast is relatively simple and does not require an ordained minister. Firstly you need to think about a theme, preparing a shorter than usual sermon, which includes some explanation of what is going on. Secondly you need to choose your hymns and your order of service – if you’re stuck, there’s a sample service at www.voteforjesus.co.uk. Thirdly you must plan the catering for your congregation, with cake or biscuits, and water or punch. Once you have all these ingredients in place, you need to choose a Sunday and let the congregation know. If you are anxious that nobody will respond when you give them the opportunity to speak, then it is in order to “prime” a couple of volunteers beforehand. My experience is that the “plants” are always beaten to the microphone by somebody else, often a completely unexpected person.

The Love Feast really does work, and is great for “raising the spiritual temperature” of a congregation – large or small.In this year of anniversaries, why not give it a try?

David E Flavell is the author of “The Love Feast: A Practical Handbook”, published by Kevin Mayhew.