In Protestant denominations where the practice of the Lord's Supper / Holy Communion is considered a means of grace (instead of 100% remembrance / memorial), can a head of family celebrate the Lord's Supper with his family at home, following as closely as possible how it is celebrated at church by the pastor? More importantly, is it a valid sacrament that becomes the same means of grace as when it's performed by the church pastor?
I am asking specifically for Protestant denominations that
- do not have special rules to restrict performing the Lord's Supper / Holy Communion to certain roles (like an ordained priest), which opens the possibility for a head of family to perform the service at home
- take the view of the Lord's Supper / Communion as a means of grace rather than 100% memorial only
Theologically I cannot find any issues, since:
- Unlike in Catholicism and possibly in Anglicanism, there is no special ordination required for performing the rite so that the bread and wine becomes the means of grace
- There is the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers
I'm asking this in the context of Covid-19 gathering restrictions. But even when Covid-19 pandemic is over, if families are really serious in obtaining grace through the Lord's Supper, can they supplement the Lord's Supper service at their churches (usually monthly) by doing it weekly at home as well? According to wikipedia:
Presbyterian and Reformed Churches have been considering whether to restore more frequent communion, including weekly communion in more churches, considering that infrequent communion was derived from a memorialist view of the Lord's Supper, rather than Calvin's view of the sacrament as a means of grace.
A related point to consider (not part of this question): in the early church period before there were special church buildings and when a congregation was possibly no larger than an extended household, who officiated over the Lord's Supper? Was an ordained pastor necessary to perform it?
The answer should name the denomination(s) which see the Lord's Supper as conferring grace to the partakers (instead of a memorial / remembrance) and then state one of these possibilities:
- They explicitly disallow home-based communion service. If they disallow, what's the theological reason, since Protestants in general subscribes to the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Also, the motivation is not to be schismatic since the confession of faith is preserved and the home-based communion service partakers are still full members of the church.
- They allow home-based communion service with some prescriptions on how to conduct it. If they allow, whether the home-based service is as valid as a sacrament that becomes the means of grace when it's performed by the church pastor at church.
- They are silent on this