10 Replies to “Gluten-Free Communion”

  1. My spouse lives mainly gluten-free, and a seminary friend also has a sever wheat allergy. I have to agree with everything in this article. In my experience, the biggest problem with gf communion (option 2) is cross-contamination. At our seminary chapel, a gf option was offered. But it was placed on a large plate with lots of other types of bread, and those who prepared the elements did not inform servers which one was gf. My loved ones had to forgo communion more than once because the gf option could not be discerned and was touching all the other breads. [Oh my gosh, it can’t even touch the other breads? I had no idea! – PB]

  3. I made a gluten-free provision at my last church, and wrote about it some years later here.

    http://boyinthebands.com/archives/celiac-disease-and-communion/

    We used cubed bread, so to provide for those who could not eat gluten, I included a few foil-wrapped pieces of GF bread (rice-based, I recall) in the plate. Notice of the same in the order of service.

    This is not my idea, but I cannot recall where I got it from, except to say that I reached out the the celiac-care community at the time.

  4. Love Courtney’s site Gluten-Free Jesus Freak. We’re so thankful that our church offers gluten-free communion. There was a big learning curve to make sure it remained safe. So thankful for pastors and elders who understand how important it is to make sure no one is excluded from the sacrament.

  5. I’m all for offering gluten free hosts, but of course it is also fine to receive in one kind only–wine only, for instance. Lots of people just take the host for instance because of issues with alcohol.

  6. Now that I think of it I guess that only applies if no one intincts, which is way gross anyway when you think of it. We have a separate container of gluten free host but I’m grateful for the reminder about not touching it with my hands.

  7. A friend has coelac’s disease. She sources her own gluten-free hosts and takes them to communion in an individual holder (pyx ? she’s roman catholic, I’m not sure about the terminology). Before the service she puts her host, in its container on the alter beside the others. When she goes forward, the priest hands it to her unopened.

    Apparently it works well – she has to remember to brief visiting priests, as she just can’t risk cross contamination.

  8. I think it’s great hospitality to offer communion in a way that allows everyone to partake as fully as possible. I know some pastors who have a problem with providing different kinds of bread because they think it shows a lack of unity. I disagree. If I were making a meal at my house and I knew a guest had a particular allergy, I would make something else or make a second option.

    It may be even kinder to offer everyone the allergen-free stuff. I have an allergy with some wine, so I often commune only in one kind. This has led some people to speculate that I’m an alcoholic or pregnant. I’m not, but I don’t really feel like explaining that every week, either.

  9. We also provide for those who need gluten free or wheat free. We do the bread cubes so it is easy enough to cut up the gluten free ones first and put them in foil cupcake liners in the centre of each of the eight plates. They still stack well as the muffin liner is flexible.

    Before we started doing this, in response to a new little guy who needed wheat free, two people with celiac had been taking the bread and not eating it, one for almost fifty years.

  10. My church offers gluten free bread made by a church member. Her recipe is also better for diabetics, and my allergies, so we are able to help several folks! It’s on a separate plate, which one usher takes to those who raise their hands for the special bread. As someone who can not take wine, (sulfite allergy), i am thrilled that so many churches are able to help folks with special needs to take Communion!

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