For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. (1 Cor. 11:27)
This verse is half of the basis of session-controlled communion. The other half is:
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. (Heb. 13:17)
Maybe the title should be "Hebrews 13:17 and session-controlled everything" because the Hebrews passage becomes, in the RP sessions' (and pretty much every session everywhere's) minds that they get to order every member around about everything, whether big or small. I would also say that for many elders, it gives them the permission to nitpick about everything with or without the consent of the session. I had an elder that put his own personal spin, e.g. "You're a hypocrite!" when he informed me of a session decision. If I had realized how much personal liberty he took implying that the session approved of his messaging, I might have brought him up on charges of insubordination. Since this isn't something peculiar to the RP church, I'll probably drop that for now.
Session-Controlled Communion is a RP / conservative NAPARC doctrine that "fences" the communion table from those who might take communion in an unworthy manner. We would expect church leaders to prohibit those who are under church discipline for unrepentant sin from taking communion, but RP elders take a more all-encompassing approach.
Fencing the table from visitors
Most RP churches refuse communion to anyone who isn't a member of an RP church. Practice varies. Elders in smaller churches will generally talk to a visitor to make sure they are in the club, and to inform them that they are not welcome to take communion. Some churches will announce that the table is fenced from those who have not "met with the session". I was in a church that would hold a brief, informal session meeting with visitors who wanted to take communion.
This was a source of never-ending comedy as maybe once every couple of years the elders would have to take action to physically bar a visitor from communion. I remember a homeless person walking in and grabbing a piece of bread as it passed by to the shock and horror of the elders, who then had to quickly coach members in that row to pass the plate away lest he get a teaspoon of wine, too. Or the time a visitor objected vocally to being refused. "I'm a Christian! How dare you!"
A couple of churches I've visited - in areas where I suspect it is a more common issue - give visitors a questionnaire to fill out if they want communion. It's a sort of self-fencing with some accountability, I guess.
Fencing the table from members of other churches
The practice I've seen for the most part is that NAPARC members are accepted with a brief (I'm a member at ... OPC) interview. That said, I've experienced some churches where NAPARC membership isn't good enough. These are the smaller churches who refuse communion to anyone who is not "known" to the session. If there is a person who attends regularly, the elders will chat and suggest meeting with the session if they plan to attend and want communion. Anyone who is not NAPARC gets the full interrogation.
Fencing the table from other RPs
This is pretty rare and I've only experienced this sort of behavior when transferring membership. Since the RPCNA is "presbyterian", the consequences of this mean that churches cannot police each others' membership rolls. In other words, if I'm a member in good standing of Middletown RPCNA, then I can take communion at any RPCNA church as a member in good standing, and I can transfer my membership anywhere as a member in good standing* (of course, Great Lakes-Gulf in their infinite wisdom has decided that they get to dictate this, too, ala Heb 13:17). Even so, I've heard of RPs being denied communion in other RP churches because they didn't meet with the session.
Fencing the table from baptized members
As I mentioned in the previous post, the RPCNA practices a sort of half-way covenant. In Israel, there was a covenant meal (passover) and, as far as I've read, no gatekeeping ceremony to prohibit people from taking part. What I read in the Old Testament is that people "reject" the covenant or "break" the covenant and are thus excluded from participation in covenant benefits.
So, on the one hand, baptized members are members of the covenant, but on the other hand, they are treated, for all intents and purposes, identically to non-Christians. As an example, I was a baptized member of an RP church. When I became a communicant member, I had moved away from my home congregation. The church I became a member in never "transferred" my membership, and I doubt even notified my previous church that I had become a member.
So, it really doesn't make sense to call communion the "covenant meal" at the same time believing "covenant theology" and talking about "covenant children" and railing at the Baptists for treating their children like outsiders. If someone can tell me any material way an RPCNA child is treated differently than a Baptist child or even a kid off the street, other than being on a magical list, I'd be grateful!
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