Love Feast

Definition and Meaning

The Korean term aechan (愛餐) means "meal of love." It renders the Greek agapē ("love"), and when the meal is observed as a formal rite it is also called a love feast service (aechansik). The term refers to a communal meal at which believers gather to share food and enjoy fellowship. It is distinct from the Lord's Supper, in which bread and wine commemorate the death of Christ. Korean Protestant denominations generally do not regard the love feast as a sacrament (a holy rite understood to have been instituted directly by Christ) but understand it as an occasion for fellowship.

Biblical and Historical Background

In the New Testament, the term rendered "feasts of charity" (love feasts) appears in Jude 1:12. Believers in the early church were "breaking bread from house to house" and "did eat their meat with gladness" (Acts 2:46). The church at Corinth held a meal in conjunction with the Lord's Supper, and Paul rebuked the disorder in which some ate first while others went hungry (1 Corinthians 11:20-22).

The love feast is also mentioned in the second-century writings of Ignatius and Tertullian. It appears to have been held together with the Lord's Supper at first but was gradually separated from it. By around the fourth century, some church councils had forbidden holding love feasts inside church buildings, and the practice is known to have gradually declined.

In the eighteenth century the Moravian Brethren revived the love feast. Influenced by them, John Wesley introduced it into the Methodist societies. At Methodist love feasts, participants shared bread and water and gave testimonies of their faith.

Practice in Korean Churches

In Korean churches, aechan is used mainly for the meal that church members share after worship. Many churches call the Sunday lunch a love feast and refer to preparing it as "love feast ministry" (aechan bongsa).

Some churches also observe the love feast as a set rite. For example, they may hold a love feast service together with a foot-washing service on Maundy Thursday during Holy Week, or share a separate love feast after the Lord's Supper. Some Methodist churches, following the Wesleyan tradition, observe the love feast as a formal rite. Presbyterian, Holiness, Baptist, and Full Gospel churches generally use the term in the sense of a fellowship meal rather than a set rite.