“I see a scriptural basis, regardless of your denomination, for a church pastor to have the power to impose restrictions on its members.”
In our church, it’s left up to the members’ own self searching to decide whether they’re in a right relationship with God and other Christians. If they are, they take communion; if they aren’t, they abstain.
I grew up in a parsonage, have many relatives who are/were pastors, and a ton of seminary friends who are as well. They aren’t spiritually or emotionally qualified to have power to impose restrictions on members regarding communion. That’s between God and his children, one-on-one. IMHO.
If there are true issues with a member, then it’s up to a leadership group such as deacons or elders to counsel with the fallen member. A minister never should have 100% control over the church.
Reminds me of Matthew 18 where it discusses how to handle a person who is publicly sinning. People can disagree with the degree to which a pastor has rules but I dont think they can disagree that a church can set rules on its membership. Those rules can be set by the church membership or a top down structure - but there still can be rules. The Catholic Church is more of a top down hierarchy than most churches - to that I can agree. But the notion that a church cant impose rules on its members seems not to fit in with the idea of how membership in any group works, religious or not.