It's Not What's on the Plate...

Seattle Church Offers Gluten-Free Communion Bread (And a WHOLE Lot More!)

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (AP) -  When most people think of Holy Communion, they envision a small cup of juice or wine, a flavorless wafer, and a few moments of personal reflection. However, the Abounding Love Church of God in Seattle is testing the limits of this ancient sacrament.

What started as a desire to accommodate a member's allergy has become a full-fledged, ground-breaking outreach program...one which is raising eyebrows across the country.

Senior Pastor, Dr. Rick Proffit, explains, "One of the young adults in our church has Celiac's disease, which means she can't ingest many bread products. It just didn't seem fair to exclude her from half the communion experience if there was something we could do to help."

So the leadership at ALC agreed to make Communion as inclusive as possible, by offering the congregation gluten-free wafers with their juice. Those with special dietary needs were satisfied. But the ball didn't stop rolling there.

"We started wondering, 'Are there others who would get more out of their Communion experience if we expanded our horizons a little bit?'" Dr. Proffit grins.  "I was just joking when I suggested we serve soft drinks."

Yet, all kidding aside, if you visit Abounding Love Church of God this Sunday, you can observe Communion with any of 6 different beverages--including white milk and Diet Pepsi.  If the regular or gluten-free wafers don't appeal to you, why not grab a pretzel stick instead? Or a small hunk of cheddar cheese?

"Change is always shocking in an institution as old as the church," says Dr. Proffit, "But we're really most concerned with taking Jesus out of the box and making him accessible to everyone." And if numbers are any indication, the local community really appreciates how easy it is to touch the Messiah at ALC.

Their attendance is up 50%.

Some skepticism still remains from other congregations, regarding whether Dr. Proffit's new program is entirely biblical. One critic, who wishes to be unnamed, describes ALC's version of communion as "an utter desecration of Jesus' body and blood."

But, to objectons like this, Dr. Proffit replies, "The Acts disciples ate full meals together, and they were still following Jesus' command to memorialize His death."

He adds, for good measure, "It's not what's on the plate that's important. It's what's in the heart."