Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist

=== Methodist ===
The followers of [[John Wesley]] have typically affirmed that the sacrament of Holy Communion is an instrumental [[Means of Grace]] through which the real presence of Christ is communicated to the believer,<ref name="UMC – This Holy Mystery 1">{{cite web |url=http://www.gbod.org/worship/thisholymystery/theologyofsacraments.html |title=This Holy Mystery: Part One |publisher=The United Methodist Church GBOD |access-date=10 July 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070807115823/http://www.gbod.org/worship/thisholymystery/theologyofsacraments.html |archive-date=7 August 2007 |df=dmy }}</ref> but have otherwise allowed the details to remain a mystery.<ref name="UMC – This Holy Mystery 2">{{cite web |url=http://www.gbod.org/worship/thisholymystery/parttwo.html |title=This Holy Mystery: Part Two |publisher=The United Methodist Church GBOD |access-date=10 July 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090707030906/http://www.gbod.org/worship/thisholymystery/parttwo.html |archive-date=7 July 2009 |df=dmy }}</ref> In particular, Methodists reject the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation (see Article XVIII of the [[Articles of Religion (Methodist)|Articles of Religion]]); the [[Primitive Methodist Church]] in its ''Discipline'' also rejects the [[Lollardist]] doctrine of [[consubstantiation]].<ref name="PMC2013">{{cite book|title=Discipline of the Primitive Methodist Church in the United States of America|publisher=[[Primitive Methodist Church]]|language=en|year=2013|quote=We reject the doctrine of transubstantiation: that is, that the substance of bread and wine are changed into the very body and blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper. We likewise reject that doctrine which affirms the physical presence of Christ's body and blood to be by, with and under the elements of bread and wine (consubstantiation).}}</ref> In 2004, the [[United Methodist]] Church affirmed its view of the sacrament and its belief in the real presence in an official document entitled ''This Holy Mystery: A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion''.<ref>[http://www.gbod.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=nhLRJ2PMKsG&b=5703123&ct=7786907 "This Holy Mystery: A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406075401/http://www.gbod.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=nhLRJ2PMKsG&b=5703123&ct=7786907 |date=6 April 2012 }}.</ref>{{fcn|date=April 2023}} Of particular note here is the church's unequivocal recognition of the [[Anamnesis (Christianity)|anamnesis]] as more than just a memorial but, rather, a ''re-presentation'' of Christ Jesus and His Love.

{{quote|Holy Communion is remembrance, commemoration, and memorial, but this remembrance is much more than simply intellectual recalling. "Do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:24–25) is {{lang|grc-Latn|anamnesis}} (the biblical Greek word). This dynamic action becomes re-presentation of past gracious acts of God in the present, so powerfully as to make them truly present now. Christ is risen and is alive here and now, not just remembered for what was done in the past.}}

[[Image:Methodistcommunion6.jpg|thumb|right|A United Methodist minister consecrates the elements]]
In conformity with ''[[The Sunday Service of the Methodists]]'', Methodism's first liturgical text, in congregations of the [[Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection]], [[African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church]], [[Bethel Methodist Church (denomination)|Bethel Methodist Church]], [[Congregational Methodist Church]], [[Evangelical Methodist Church]], [[Evangelical Wesleyan Church]], First Bible Holiness Church, [[First Congregational Methodist Church]], [[Free Methodist Church]], [[Lumber River Conference of the Holiness Methodist Church]], [[Metropolitan Church Association]], [[Pilgrim Holiness Church]], among many other Methodist [[connexionalism|connexions]], the presider says the following when delivering the Eucharistic elements to each of the faithful (which is reflective of the Methodist teachings of the real presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper and the Lord's Supper being a sacramental means of grace):<ref>
*{{cite book|title=The Discipline of the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection (Original Allegheny Conference)|year=2014|publisher=[[Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection]]|location=[[Salem, Ohio|Salem]]|page=137}} 
*{{cite book |title=The Doctrine and Discipline of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church |date=2012 |publisher=[[African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church]] |isbn=978-1-4969-5704-7}} 
*{{cite book |title=Discipline of the Bethel Methodist Church |date=2014 |publisher=[[Bethel Methodist Church (denomination)|Bethel Methodist Church]] |page=83}} 
*{{cite book |title=Book of Discipline |date=2013 |publisher=[[Congregational Methodist Church]] |location=[[Florence, Mississippi|Florence]] |page=66 |edition=18}} 
*{{cite book |title=Discipline of the Evangelical Methodist Church |date=2018 |publisher=[[Evangelical Methodist Church]] |location=[[Indianapolis, Indiana|Indianapolis]] |pages=193–194}} 
*{{cite book|title=The Discipline of the Evangelical Wesleyan Church |year=2015|publisher=[[Evangelical Wesleyan Church]]|pages=183}} 
*{{cite book |title=Book of Discipline |date=2015 |publisher=[[Free Methodist Church]] |location=[[Indianapolis, IN|Indianapolis]] |page=183}} 
*{{cite book |title=Manual: First Bible Holiness Church |date=1956 |publisher=First Bible Holiness Church |location=[[Muncie, Indiana|Muncie]]}}
*{{cite book |title=Constitution and Government of the First Congregational Methodist Church of the U.S.A. |date=1996 |publisher=[[First Congregational Methodist Church]] |location=[[Boaz, Alabama|Boaz]] |edition=14|page=49}} 
*{{cite book |last1=Sanderson |first1=Jimmy |last2=Scott |first2=Stanley |last3=Hunt |first3=Elton B. |last4=Belcher |first4=Dianne B. |last5=Woods |first5=James H. |title=Doctrines and Discipline of the Lumber River Conference of the Holiness Methodist Church |date=2011 |pages=33}}
*{{cite book |title=The Discipline of the Metropolitan Church Association |date=15 November 1930 |publisher=[[Metropolitan Church Association]] |page=21}}
*{{cite book |title=Discipline |date=2007 |publisher=Pilgrim Holiness Church of New York |pages=F7–F8}}</ref>

{{quotation|
The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy soul and body unto everlasting life. Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on Him in thy heart, by faith with thanksgiving. 

The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy soul and body unto everlasting life. Drink this in remembrance that Christ's blood was shed for thee, and be thankful.}}

This affirmation of real presence is also illustrated in the language of the United Methodist Eucharistic Liturgy<ref>For example, {{cite web|url=http://www.revneal.org/communionlit1.html|title=United Methodist Communion Liturgy: Word and Table 1|publisher=Grace Incarnate Ministries|year=2010|access-date=23 September 2011|archive-date=17 April 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417073138/http://www.revneal.org/communionlit1.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> where, in the [[epiclesis]] of the Great Thanksgiving, the celebrating minister prays over the elements:

{{quote|Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine. Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.}}

Methodists assert that Jesus is truly present, and that the means of His presence is a "Holy Mystery". The communion hymn ''[[wikisource:Come, Sinners, to the Gospel Feast (version 2)|Come Sinners to the Gospel Feast]]'', by Methodist divine [[Charles Wesley]] includes the following stanza and is often sung during Methodist services of worship in which the Lord's Supper is celebrated:

{{poemquote|Come and partake the gospel feast,
be saved from sin, in Jesus rest;
O taste the goodness of our God,
and eat his flesh and drink his blood.}}

The distinctive feature of the Methodist doctrine of the real presence is that the way Christ manifests His presence in the Eucharist is a sacred mystery—the focus is that Christ ''is'' truly present in the sacrament.<ref>{{cite book|last=Neal|first=Gregory S.|title=Grace Upon Grace|date=19 December 2014|publisher=WestBow Press|language=en |isbn=9781490860060|page=107}}</ref> The ''Discipline'' of the [[Free Methodist Church]] thus teaches:

{{quotation|The Lord's Supper is a sacrament of our redemption by Christ's death. To those who rightly, worthily, and with faith receive it, the bread which we break is a partaking of the body of Christ; and likewise the cup of blessing is a partaking of the blood of Christ. The supper is also a sign of the love and unity that Christians have among themselves. Christ, according to his promise, is really present in the sacrament.|''Discipline'', [[Free Methodist Church]]<ref name="Oden2008">{{cite book|last=Oden|first=Thomas C.|title=Doctrinal Standards in the Wesleyan Tradition: Revised Edition|year=2008|publisher=Abingdon Press|isbn=9780687651115|page=184}}</ref>}}

Many within the [[Pentecostal|Holiness Pentecostal]] tradition, which is largely [[Wesleyan theology|Wesleyan–Arminian]] in theology as are the Methodist Churches, also affirm this understanding of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.<ref name="Chai2015">{{cite book|last=Chai|first=Teresa|title=A Theology of the Spirit in Doctrine and Demonstration: Essays in Honor of Wonsuk and Julie Ma|date=12 February 2015|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|isbn=9781498217644|page=97}}</ref>