preaching: one another or 1 to all the others?

With all the conversation over at the gospel coalition blogs about the centrality of expository preaching in our gatherings, a re-post by Alan Knox gives some excellent biblical examples of church gatherings where the model is not monologue but dialogue.

So, there certainly may have been instances where only one person spoke during the meeting of the church. But, Scripture does not give us many of these examples. Instead, we primarily have examples of several people either speaking or having the option to speak when the church meets. Similarly, when teaching specifically about the church meeting, we are not instructed that only one person should speak, but that all should have that option. It seems that in general, even when one person primarily spoke during a meeting, and even when that person was an apostle like Paul, there was the possibility and probability that others would take part.

Click above. You want to read the entire post.

Look Who's Talking!

I read a blog today that deeply troubled me. To many it may be old hat, but for me...when I see someone coming to these conclusions and publishing them I am deeply troubled. Especially when that someone is a greatly respected leader of mine. I am talking about a post today from Thabiti Anyabwile entitled God's Doing the Talking.

His post is in response to a review of his recent book What is a Healthy Church Member in which the reviewer noted his concern with Thabiti's term "expositional listening" and how the traditional worship service built around the sermon undermines the priesthood of all believers.  (I wonder if he is referring to Eric's blog post ????)

Here is what Thabiti writes:

The fatal flaw in my reviewer’s comments was his tendency to think that the service at its best is a conversation between man and man, a human dialogue, a gathering of people of rather equal status speaking to one another. But is that really what’s happening in preaching and in the gathered worship of the church?

The very structure reflects a running dialogue–not between the people gathered, though we “speak to one another in songs,” etc.–but fundamentally between God and His people.

When God speaks through the exposition of His word there certainly will be many reactions, but as our Sovereign speaks there should not be an interruption in favor of our pooling our comments and sharing our insights.  Our best wisdom is foolishness before God.  Better to first listen to the One who speaks, then talk with one another about it afterward.

These conclusions imply that God only speaks through a well prepared expositional sermon delivered from a pulpit by a professional pastor.  God speaks beginning with the call to worship and ending with the benediction.  Everything else is just "after" talk.

Brothers and sisters, let me encourage you.  God dwells within his body, the church.  There is no part of the body that is not necessary, not needed, or just an afterthought.  We are all servants of Jesus Christ and we are expected to minister to one another as He leads us to when we gather together.  Ministry is for professionals and we are all in the business of doing His business of advancing the kingdom therefore we are all professionals and our reward is in Heaven with Christ.  There is something very special about faithful preaching that is true to the Word of God and we are ALL called to be preaching that word.  We are not all , apostles, evangelists, pastors and teachers but we are something special.  We are members in the body of Christ.  The preeminent, righteous, sinless, soveriegn, benevolent, maker and master of the heavens and earth dwells within you.  Walk by faith in that truth and study God's Word.  God will speak through you.

  

who's preaching?

What comes to mind when you hear this question? If you are like most, immediately your mind sees a man on a stage behind a pulpit sermonizing to a listening audience. Why? Where do we get this practice from?

To the astonishment of many, this practice (along with nearly every other practice in organized church services) has unbiblical and pagan roots. Yet, many well meaning pastors and teachers participate in this performance week after week. For most preaching a sermon on Sunday is a necessary event. In fact, the sermon is the central portion of protestant worship services. This is due to the understanding that the gospel (good news) must be preached because news only comes through words. This is true, but if weekly prepared sermons were Gods intended vehicle for the proclamation of Jesus Christ, why is it absent from the New Testament record of early church gatherings?

I believe that preaching (speaking, telling) the good news of who Jesus is and what He has done is a necessary response to the life changing power of the gospel for every believing follower of Christ. Every believer should tell the good news to everyone they come into contact with, believer and unbeliever alike.
The gospel changes lives and only by preaching the gospel (good newsing) will lives be changed. I long to see church gatherings where the gospel is preached not by one paid professional, but by everyone who has experienced the transforming power of Christ for themselves.

Lets good news one another instead of having one who good newses all the others.

free the pastors! pastor for free!

Building on my last post, here is a post from Alan Knox at the assembling of the church describing how being a pastor in a participatory gathering of the church contrasts with being a pastor in an institutionalized traditional church.  First He shares many of the things he has read and heard lately describing what he sees pastors worrying about.  Then he shares his own experience and how he is free from these kinds of worries to do what pastors are called to do.

Alan writes:

Because of many of the above, I don’t worry about how many people meet with us each Sunday. I don’t have to worry about filling the pews (or chairs). I don’t have to worry about recruiting people to fill ministry program slots. I don’t have to worry about how much money people give.
Instead, I can focus all of my time and energy on people… caring for people… serving people… discipling people… teaching people… sharing my life with people.

Click over and read the whole post, it paints a clear picture of how our structures and traditions of having paid professional pastors actually distract us from what we are called to be in Christ.

grammatical millstones

In past times as I have grown to see Jesus more clearly I have also grown in my desire to serve others.  It makes sense that I would resemble Him more as I see Him and His example. Jesus demonstrated this in His life and ministry and as I have understood more fully my union with Him I notice His Spirit moving me to live for others. I want to be a servant and a minister. I have been taught that this is the role of a deacon in the church.  With this knowledge my mind moved in the direction of being recognized as a deacon so that I would have more opportunity to serve the body. Yet, I have consistently been wary of moving in that direction because I perceived within myself that my desire to serve was being replaced by a desire to be recognized so that I might be sought out for service.

Now that I gather with believers in a more participatory fashion, my desire to serve hasn't diminished but it is no longer being answered with a desire for recognition.  Sure, when I serve others it is a joy to see the recipients of God's grace glorifying Him due to my ministry and the praise of His glorious grace should be my desire in all I do.  My difficulty comes in knowing how bent I am for my own praise and recognition and it seems that positions and titles only promote this kind of self exaltation and all in the name of Jesus!

Maybe we should think of words such as minister, deacon, pastor, shepherd, elder, leader and teacher as adjectives (describing a person) rather than prepositions (positions a person is in) so that the works are magnified rather than the person.  Maybe then I would have been free to serve without feeling as though I had to be recognized as qualified before I obeyed.  I can't blame grammatical error for my own sins of ommission.  Still though, if I am not alone in feeling unqualified because I am not recognized then in light of the consistent admonishment and exhortation for all members to serve one another we read in scripture, maybe we should hand a millstone around our necks next time we participate in an ordination for causing little ones to stumble.
 
Agree?  please share your experience

Disagree?   Is there scripture I should consider more that would help shape my understanding?