Food (Allergies) and Fellowship
We have probably all heard the jokes that every Baptist fellowship involves food. From my experience I’d have a hard time refuting this. Our church actually eats lunch together every Sunday. Most Sundays each family brings their own lunch, but every month that has a fifth Sunday, our church has a potluck. Besides Sundays, we have extra Bible studies, holiday celebrations, and special events that almost always also involve food.
Although I can’t say where this Baptist tendency originates (and perhaps other denominations regularly do this as well), there is certainly a precedent in Scripture. A quick look at a few words makes it clear that food is pretty important in the Bible. The words food, eat, feast, and bread alone can be found about 1500 times in Scripture.
In the Old Testament, the first sin by humans involved eating a fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (cf. Genesis 3:7). After the flood and especially once God gave the Law, there were many laws about what could and could not be eaten. Most notably, God commanded the eating of specific foods together at specific times, often to accompany sacrifices or as part of feasts. The Passover meal was a meal that was eaten to remember God’s passing over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt (cf. Exodus 12). Leviticus 23 delineates 6 other feasts in addition to the Passover feast that Israel was to participate in. These feasts involved food, worship, and the corporate gathering of Israel.
In the New Testament, Jesus frequently ate meals with people, and these times often involved instruction. Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, the eating of bread and drinking of the cup, to be done in remembrance of him (cf. Luke 22:14-20). Paul gave further instructions for this corporate meal in which the church was to partake in 1 Corinthians 11. John tells us of a future feast in heaven that the redeemed will experience—the marriage feast of the Lamb (cf. Revelation 19:6-10).
All this to say, food plays an important part in corporate worship and the fellowship of God’s people. It did in Scripture, and it does so today. So, one of the issues we should perhaps consider is the challenge of food allergies.
While food allergies may seem simply like a personal health issue for individuals, it can also impact that individual’s fellowship with other believers in a local assembly.
Have you ever been on a restricted diet and been invited to a pizza party? You bring and eat your own salad while everyone else has pizza and breadsticks. You drink your water and munch on carob nibs while everyone else indulges in pop, cake, and ice cream. You are there, but you feel—simply by your diet restrictions—that you don’t quite fit in.
Now imagine the individuals who never can join in on any of the fellowships involving food. They can come, but they either don’t eat or always have to bring their own food. Or they have to figure out who made what, quiz the cook on the ingredients, and decide whether they want to take the risk to try the food. Perhaps they even can’t partake in the Lord’s Supper due to a wheat allergy (or they have to bring their own cracker if they remember).
If you have never dealt with allergies before, this may sound silly to you. But in all reality, food allergies truly can be somewhat of a hindrance to fellowship in the body of Christ. My youngest daughter (now 8) has dealt with many allergies almost from birth. She has dealt with allergies to wheat, dairy, tree nuts, peanuts, avocado, banana, flax seed, sesame seed, sunflower seed, and pumpkin seed, and coconut. There is another woman in our (very small) church with almost the same allergies. Others struggle with dairy and/or gluten.
My friend with all the allergies and my young daughter have developed a bond of friendship over sharing very similar and very restrictive food allergies, and this has been an amazing blessing. But these allergies have also restricted fellowship to a certain degree with others.
People are very nervous to invite people with allergies to their homes for meals. This is understandable, but it does affect fellowship. Even going out to a restaurant is often not a possibility for many of these people. Retreats and conferences are often not an option, unless food is brought from home, making the retreat feel more like extra work rather than retreat.
When you have allergies and you do attend an event with food, but are not able to eat what everyone else is eating, it is disappointing to say the least. You feel like you don’t fit in. When someone does go the extra mile to make sure that you have something you can eat—especially if it something everyone else is eating—the love and gratitude felt is overwhelming. You feel like everyone else. The unity is notched up just a bit more, because the person with allergies can fellowship and eat with everyone else, just like everyone else.
Living with allergies has opened my eyes to this important part of fellowship within the church (and society in general). Food has always been one of my “love languages,” and I’m learning that providing food for those with food allergies is a special way to love these individuals and help them enjoy the fullness and unity of fellowship.
Here are some very practical tips to show consideration and love for people with food allergies:
- If you are making food that they might be eating. . .
- Send them a picture of the recipe.
- Send a picture of the ingredients of every item in each recipe. You’d be surprised at what “hidden” ingredients may be in foods, spices, mixes. Trust me, all the texts/emails/phone calls are not inconvenient. In fact, the individual will feel much more at ease seeing all the ingredients for herself or himself.
- Assure guests that you will not be offended in the least if they tell you they can’t eat something or give a suggestion for an alternative ingredient or recipe.
- Ask your guests for recipe suggestions that they know are safe to eat. You could even go the extra effort to make a special something that is allergy friendly that would really make your guest feel loved.
- Make sure that you don’t “cross-contaminate.” Depending on the severity of the allergy, an allergen that comes into contact with a safe food may make the safe food unsafe to eat. So, make sure to cut cheese, for example, on a separate cutting board and knife than the vegetables you are cutting. Don’t stir the gluten free pasta with the same spoon as the wheat pasta. Don’t have cheese and lunchmeat or fruit on the same plate (usually those store-bought fruit and cheese trays are not safe for those with dairy allergies).
- If you are bringing food to an event where there will be people with food allergies:
- Consider having a separate table/spot that is nut-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, etc.
- Ask those who bring these kinds of foods to print out a list of ingredients and carefully label.
- Make sure at least that serving utensils are not mixed up between allergy safe and other foods.
- If you would like to invite a friend with allergies to eat out:
- Ask if there are any restaurants that they know are safe to eat at. Often there are only a handful of meals at a few restaurants that are safe. (For example, for most of Gwen’s life, Chick-fil-A’s grilled nuggets and fries were one of her only fast-food options.)
- If you are going somewhere where food might be purchased, consider bringing snacks or just skipping altogether so that your friend doesn’t feel left out.
- Don’t NOT invite friends will allergies over simply because you feel nervous about feeding them. You could even work it out so they bring some of their own food. Just don’t allow the food allergies to inhibit the fellowship.
I hope these suggestions are helpful in loving those you may know with food allergies. As with any trial God gives, we must accept allergies as God’s sovereign plan for some of our lives. But may fellow believers be willing to come alongside those with allergies and help them bear their burdens with joy.
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Holly Huffstutler serves with her husband David, the pastor of First Baptist Church in Rockford, IL. She blogs with him here where this post first appeared. Holly is a homemaker, raising and schooling her four children.