Viewing posts from July, 2025

The Westminster Assembly and the Distribution of the Elements

by James Duguid | July 30, 2025

Recently, there was a discussion at the PCA General Assembly about who should distribute the elements at the Lord’s Supper. I argued that distribution belongs to all participants to the Supper, and I argued that point from Luke 22:17 (you can see that argument here). Since the Assembly, I’ve had a chance to spend more time looking into the history of the practice. I was honestly a little surprised at how clear the evidence is that both the Westminster Assembly and the Church of Scotland (who ultimately adopted the Westminster Standards) permitted the distribution of the elements by the whole congregation.

On the Mutual Distribution of the Lord's Supper

by James Duguid | July 2, 2025

This year at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America, Overture 12 sought to limit the distribution of the Lord’s Supper to church officers (the minister, ruling elders, or deacons). I gave a speech against the overture, based on my interpretation of Luke 22:17. The overture failed, but, since we seem to be headed into a bit of a period of liturgical reform in the PCA, it seemed good to me to expand my reasoning into a blog post.