Participatory Church Gatherings

This is the Start of a New Series on Participatory Church Gatherings in Acts

Acts Chapter One

B. B. Warfield, commenting on 1 Cor. 14, wrote: ‘This, it is to be observed, was the ordinary church worship at Corinth in the Apostles' day. It is analogous in form to the freedom of our modern prayer-meeting services ... There is no reason to believe that the infant congregation in Corinth was singular in this. The Apostle does not write as if he were describing a marvellous state of affairs peculiar to that church. He even makes the transition to the next item of his advice in the significant words, ‘as in all the churches of the saints'. And the hints of the rest of his letters and in the Book of Acts require us, accordingly, to look upon this beautiful picture of Christian worship as one which would have been true to life for any of the numerous congregations planted by the Apostles in the length and breadth of the world visited and preached to by them'.

(Miracles Yesterday and Today, True and False, Eerdmans, 1954, pp4-5) 

Interestingly, Warfield likened the freedom of the church gathering described in 1 Cor. 14 to a modern-day prayer meeting. This is a significant observation for the simple reason that the church, as we see it in the book of Acts, started out as a simple Prayer and Bible Study gathering.

Acts 1:14-15 read, ‘These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers. And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples (altogether the number of names was about a hundred and twenty), and said, "Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus".

If we calculate from the Ascension (40 days after Christ's Resurrection) until Pentecost (50 days after the Resurrection), we count ten days in which the disciples gathered in Jerusalem to pray and discuss Scriptures relevant to Christ while waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Thus we can trace a parallel from the freedom of a modern prayer meeting that characterised the church in Corinth to the freedom of a prayer meeting that characterised the disciples in Jerusalem in Acts 1. As we shall argue, the connection between these two gatherings is not a coincidence, but rather a consequence of the fact that the situation in Acts 1 is what the Church in the New Testament grew out of.

In fact, we can trace the origins of the church even further back. If we look back into the Gospels, we find exactly the same informal picture. The Lord gathered his disciples around himself in exactly the same manner as a modern discipleship, prayer or Bible study group. In this setting there was no starched formality, but instead the freedom of perfect fellowship. There was no lecture-hall learning-style, but instead the interchange of questions and answers, the disciples asking for explanation and the Lord providing it, or the disciples making mistakes and the Lord gently correcting them.

Now, it might be argued that the fact that the picture of the embryonic Church seen in Acts 1 (continuing the pattern of fellowship found in the Gospels) provides no proof that the church continued to proceed in the same way, or should still proceed in the same way today. We can leave these issues for later. At the moment, all that is being asserted is that here we have found another example of Participatory Church Gatherings in the New Testament. We are demonstrating that a definite pattern emerges when we look through the New Testament. It is therefore unsatisfactory to argue that Participatory Church Gatherings are found in a few sporadic places in the New Testament, like the church in Corinth, or the church in Ephesus (as we see in the Pastoral Epistles). Instead, Participatory Church Gatherings are systemic; they can be found right at the foot of the tree in the book of Acts (and the roots of the tree in the Gospel records).

What we find in Corinth or Ephesus is not some eccentric aberration, therefore, but in keeping with the apostolic origins of the Church as pictured in the book of Acts. That might not convince some people that we should practice what the apostolic church practiced, but the accumulating evidence for Participatory Church Gatherings throughout the New Testament shows up the hollowness of the claim of some who argue that their Church is genuinely Apostolic (one of the four traditional marks of a true Church), all the while continuing to be unapostolic in the way its primary activity, the church gathering, is carried on.

Seven Things I Learned at BUCKIT Week

A week ago I was cooped up with 40-50 seriously keen young Christians in a posh hotel for a week of intensive Bible Study. While I suppose the intention was for them to learn and grow, I am glad that the Lord was pleased to teach me things from the week too. Here are seven things I learned:

Ephesians 4:7-16 - Edifying one another 

But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore He says: "When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men."  (Now this, "He ascended" -- what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head -- Christ -- from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

Here we have another key passage in the New Testament teaching that church life is meant to be participatory: each member of the body is gifted and intended to be involved in edifying the other members of the body. As we shall see, this includes participation in the church gatherings.

There are a number of ways this passage is commonly understood (and misunderstood):

1. The Christian Clergyman: this first view reads verse 12 as speaking about 'the work of the ministry' (RSV), with 'the Ministry' referring to the role of a Pastor or Minister. These verses therefore give us the role and responsibility of the Minister: he alone does the work of the Ministry, preaching the word and administering the sacraments.
2. The Coach's Job-Description: this second view takes the expression in verse 12, 'for the equipping of the saints' to describe the role of a Pastor as some sort of 'equipper' or 'life-coach' who seeks to develop others in the church so they can do the work of ministry.
3. The Any-Man Ministry: This passage could be understood in a third, radically egalitarian, way, that is as describing all believers involved in the roles of pastor or teacher or evangelist, on the basis of the statement in verse 7 that tells us that 'to each of us grace was given'.

We will see that all three of these views are either incorrect or inadequate understandings of this passage, and that a fourth view will be required to do justice to what the passage says about the use of spiritual gifts in the church.

Hebrews 3:12-13 and 10:24-25: Encouraging one another

In Hebrews 3:12-13, the Christians are told, in view of the dangers of sin and unbelief, that they should ‘encourage (or exhort) one another daily'. Obviously, this does not refer to the church gatherings so much as to opportunities for Christian encouragement in day-to-day life.

Later, over in Hebrews 10:24-25, a similar thing is stated and here the context includes the church gatherings. ‘Let us consider one another to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching'. The second ‘one another' is in italics because it is not in the original, but the words are implied by the first reference to ‘one another', by the emphasis upon unity and togetherness, and by the exhortation about ‘assembling of ourselves together'. Virtually every English translation uses ‘one another ‘or ‘each other'.

Precisely what ‘encouraging one another' involves in the passage in Hebrews 3 is not stated. However, when we come over to Hebrews 10, we can see that it refers to stirring up love and good works. 'Encouraging' or 'exhorting' presumably involves sharing with one another the things of the Lord, enquiring about how a fellow Christian is going in their walk with the Lord, spiritually admonishing one another and pastorally caring for one another.

The reference to encouraging 'one another' in these two passages is significant in that it is not looked upon as the responsibility of the Pastor, or the elders, but of the individual Christians one toward another. But further, encouraging one another is called for in the second passage in Ch. 10 in which exhorting one another is set in contrast with forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. If exhorting one another is the opposite of forsaking assembling together, then we may conclude that the exhorting one another in day to day life (of Chapter 3) is to be carried over into the church gatherings themselves.

Looking at the passage in chapter 10, then, we may say that when we assemble together we are to encourage one another in our Christian life. Encouragement in our Christian lives is obviously the whole point of the church gatherings. However, it is the method by which this occurs that is of interest to us here, for these passages put the emphasis upon individual Christians to encourage each other - both in the day to day business of life, as well as in the church gatherings.

How is this to be done, if it is not by spiritually sharing together the things concerning the Lord in the church gatherings? We are to share the lessons we have learned in our own lives, to comfort others by the comfort we have received from the Lord and to teach each other from the Word of God.

This passage in Hebrews 10 therefore appears to presuppose a model of church life in which the individual Christians are able to encourage each other by participating in the gathering.

Alternative Understandings of 1 Timothy 2:11-12

1. Paul is writing to Wives not Women, therefore the Injunction refers to the Home not the Church

Some have argued that these verses refer to wives, and while the Greek word gune can refer to woman (generally) or wife (more particularly), the default meaning of the word is 'woman'. Further, there are three grammatical flags that indicate that women (generally) are in view, rather than wives (particularly):

1. The normal way that wives are distinguished from women in the NT is by adding a possessive pronoun: 'his woman' means 'his wife'. The absence from the construction of any additional possessive pronoun suggests that the simple 'woman' is Paul's meaning.
2. The absence of the article 'the' before 'woman' in verses 11 and 12. Since the article usually fulfils the function of specifying a particular person or group, the absence of the article leaves the word 'woman' at the general level.
3. The switch from the plural (women) in verses 9-10 to the singular (woman) in verses 11-12 also reinforces the conclusion that the discussion is directed at the more general level ('a woman') rather than the more restricted ('the wives'). 

Thus, if Paul was going to designate a particular section within the church, we would expect him to speak to 'the wives' (using the article and the plural form), which he does not do here.

Against this view, others would argue that the references to Adam and Eve (in verses 13-14) and childbearing (in verse 15) indicate that married women are  the focus of attention. However Adam and Eve were the original man and woman (as well as the original man and wife). Further, the point of verse 15 is that women should (marry and) bring up children - it is an injunction rather than an observation. Therefore, it applies to the young unmarried women as much as to the married (elderly widows admittedly being excluded, but Paul addresses their situation in chapter 5).

More broadly, the context of Chapter 2 argues for 'woman'. 'It is not only husbands who are to lift holy hands in prayer, but all the men, and not only wives who are to dress modestly, but all the women (verses 9-10). Therefore, the prohibitions of verse 12 are applicable to all women in the church in their relationships with all men in the church' (Douglas Moo, What does it mean not to Teach or have Authority over Men in 1 Timothy 2:11-15?, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, Crossway Books, p183).

Romans 12: 6-8 - if any man has a prophecy

Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us exercise them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; or service, in serving; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Paul's exhortation to the Christians to use their gifts implies that individual Christians are responsible for using the gifts they have been given by God. Indeed, Paul earlier in the same chapter exhorts us to serve God by using these gifts because we want to gratefully respond to God's mercies in Christ (v1).

The fact that individual Christians are responsible for using their gifts is most obvious in the case of prophecy (v6), in which a person speaks as prompted - not by a request from a church committee, nor because the person's name has been listed in the service programme - but by the Holy Spirit. The person prophesying is specifically told to do so ‘in proportion to faith' - as much as the prophet's faith permits him to say. The gift of prophecy is therefore a highly individual matter.

But the principle applies equally to the gifts of exhortation, or giving, or leading, or showing mercy (v8). These gifts are the instinctive and spontaneous responses of people whose hearts burn with a desire to do something for the Lord and because of their love for people around about them. Christians using these gifts are usually self-motivating (or Spirit-motivated) people who see a need and cannot help but try to meet that need. They are not usually the sorts of people who do something only when they have been asked to by someone else. Instead, they are people who rise up and willingly take the initiative.

With the gifts of serving and teaching (v7), the situation is sometimes otherwise. That is, some people might teach the scriptures or perform some act of service only when asked by others to do so. However, even people using these gifts may be self-motivating. That is, someone might see a need for teaching about some particular subject and try to meet that need. Or, someone might see a situation that will require their service and spontaneously volunteer to help without even being asked to do so.

Note that teaching and serving are virtually the only two sorts of spiritual gifts used in modern evangelical churches. Part of the reason for the shrinking ‘gift pool' in modern churches is because modern churches are increasingly becoming characterised by people who are reluctant to volunteer do anything. Instead, people have to be dragooned into serving God, even in the most simple ways.  People come to church to receive rather than to contribute and Christianity has become a spectator sport. Churches are like shopping malls where spiritual consumers congregate and, if they like what they get, sometimes come back for more.

Interestingly, even bible teaching in some churches these days is becoming something that bible teachers have to be dragged into doing. Perhaps the reason for this is because most people these days do not study the Bible simply because they love to do so. Instead, other things have captured their heart and fill their time, with the result that they only study the Bible when they have to prepare to publicly teach in the church setting. They teach because of duty rather than because they love God's Word and they love God's people who need to hear it. They have to keep up the reputation for being a decent Bible teacher, and so, when they reluctantly agree to a preaching engagement, they put in the work for fear of putting in a below par performance. Bible teaching is all about saving face.

Paul's exhortation for Christians to use their gifts in Romans 12 therefore implies that Christians should willingly rise up and use the gifts they have been given of their own accord. Since some of these gifts mentioned here are most prominently used in the church gatherings, we conclude that Christians are expected to participate of their own volition in the church gatherings, not because it is expected of them or in response to the church planning committee, or to fill a slot in a church programme. The early church meetings seem to have been characterised by people rising up and prophesying, teaching and exhorting each other without the need (or mention) of others asking them them to do so. They did so because their hearts were on fire for the Lord.

If Any Man Speaks - 1 Peter 4:10-11

1 Peter 4:10-11 reads as follows: As each one has receieved a gift, minister it to yourselves, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man  speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God, if anyone serves, as from the strength which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the might for ever and ever, amen.

This verse occurs at the end of two paragraphs that contrast the Christian's relationship to society with life in the Christian community. Thus, in the first paragraph (verses 1-6), whereas before conversion the Christian once lived in idolatry, drunkenness, lusts and loose-living (verse 3), now as a Christian he should 'no longer live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God' (verse 2). In fact, the non-Christian former associates 'think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you' (verse 4).

Now, however, in the second paragraph (verses7-11), having left the world behind, the Christian enjoys fellowship in a new spiritual family. Thus, in these verses we have repeated reference to 'one another' and 'yourselves':

• 'have fervent love for one another' (verse 8)
• 'be hospitable to one another' (verse 9)
• 'as each one has recieved a gift, minister it to yourselves' (verse 10)

Verses 10 and 11 present a very similar picture to what Paul writes about in 1 Corinthians chapters 12 to 14. Notice the parallels:

1. Each Christian has received a gift (verse 10, compare with 1 Cor. 12:4-11),
2. These gifts are different, hence the 'manifold grace of God' (verse 10) and the two main areas of gifting outlined in verse 11, speaking and serving (compare with 1 Cor. 12:8-11)
3. Each Christian has a responsibility to use this gift for the benefit of others (verse 10, cf. 1 Cor. 12:7, 12-31)
4. The speaking gifts are prophetic, that is, the oracles of God are communicated thereby (verse 11, cf. 1 Cor. 14:1-25)
5. Any man is able to speak (verse 11, cf. 1 Cor. 14:26, ff.)

Thus, we can see here again evidence of the participatory nature of church gatherings in the early church, just as in 1 Cor. 12-14.

The first part of 1 Peter 4:11 is obviously the part of this passage which is the most significant in terms of what it says about Participatory Church Gatherings as they were practised in the early Church. We shall therefore look at it in some more detail.

This is the start of a new series of articles on Participatory Church Gatherings throughout the NT

We notice here three points of correspondence with the passage in 1 Cor. 14:26-40:

1. The Holy Spirit was operative, speaking through His servants in the church gatherings (cf. 1 Cor. 12:7-11).
2. Prophecies were able to be freely uttered (cf. 1 Cor. 14:1-5, 26-40).
3. Prophecies had to be tested before being accepted (cf. 1 Cor 14:29).

Here, then, we have another passage which reinforces the participatory, Spirit-led, picture of church gatherings we find elsewhere in the New Testament, and particularly in the pre-eminent passage dealing with church gatherings in the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 14:26-40.

However, we also notice another force at work in addition to that of the Spirit of God. There seems to be a desire to restrict the freedom of God's Spirit, a desire to limit the opportunity for the exercise of the gift of prophecy. This desire is not based, as in Corinth, on a preference for more spectacular gifts like speaking in tongues. Rather, here, the disquiet seems to be based on a desire for something more orderly, predictable and controllable than the fire of God's Spirit's utterances.

The picture these verses present, showing the freedom for the Spirit of God's movement and the counteractive desire for human control, characterises the history of the Christian church after the apostolic era. 

Thus, John Drane writes about church life in the apostolic era: 'In the earliest days...their worship was spontaneous. This seems to have been regarded as the ideal, for when Paul describes how a church meeting should proceed he depicts a Spirit-led participation by many, if not all...There was the fact that anyone had the freedom to participate in such worship. In the ideal situation, when everyone was inspired by the Holy Spirit, this was the perfect expression of Christian freedom.' (Introducing the New Testament, Lion, 1999 Revised Edition, p402).

However, this freedom soon gave way to a controlled environment where ceremony and liturgy took the place of Spirit-led spontaneity.

A. N. Renwick sums up the history as follows:

The very essence of church organisation and Christian life and worship in the first two centuries was simplicity. There was an absence of that formalism and pomp which took possession of the field in later times when spiritual life declined ... Their worship was free and spontaneous under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and had not yet become inflexible through the use of manuals of devotion. The Church was vigorously active. Not only the pastor but also many of those present took part in the services, for to them the priesthood of all believers was a tremendous reality (The Story of the Church, IVP, 2nd Ed. 1985, pp22-23).

In the day and age in which we live, most churches follow the fad of having a consecutive, systematic teaching programme.  There is no doubt that there is much benefit that can be gained from this method of consecutive teaching; God's people become more biblically-literate as they exposed to preaching from whole books of the Bible, instead of simply isolated texts or favourite passages of Scripture. They therefore learn how to read and interpret scripture correctly and are encouraged to be better readers of the Bible in their own private lives. However, there are dangers with this method, as well. In particular, it is possible for a preacher to do his 'slot' (or take his turn) without the need of having to earnestly seek the Lord's face for what he should speak upon, waiting upon God to hear what He would say to His people.  Furthermore, there is also the serious danger that the Holy Spirit can be silenced completely by such human programmes, and that preachers can be mere academic exegetes of a text instead of spokesmen coming out of the (heavenly) sanctuary to deliver the message of God. The leaders of a church may be able, by such methods, to silence criticism of glaring sins taking place in their midst or shut down those who would seek to stand against heretical doctrines being given air-time. Such programmes can prevent the Holy Spirit speaking to a particular individual about an issue that needs correction in their private life, matters of which the speaker was entirely unaware. Church can become a scripted performance and preaching carried on without the need for a living, vital link to the throne of heaven.

The Timothy Training Programme

2 Timothy 2:2 reads as follows:

And the things which you heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit to faithful men, who will be competent to also teach others.

This verse mandates for ministry training, primarily in the local church and possibly beyond. Training for ministry was an important part of our Lord's three years spent with his disciples and it also characterised the way Paul nurtured other younger men like Timothy. We live in an age that requires training programmes for everyone from surgeons to street-sweepers, yet in some churches, men are appointed to leadership positions (i.e. as elders) who are neither qualified (in terms of the requirements for eldership set out in 1 Tim. 3 and Titus 1), nor gifted in either teaching or shepherding God's people (their two main roles), nor having undergone the least training. Men have been appointed to leadership positions but, quite evidently, it was not by the Holy Ghost.

This is all beside the point here, however, where we will simply notice what this verse teaches about participatory church gatherings. Actually, what we shall notice is what it does NOT say about how teaching was conducted in churches in the NT.

Women's Silence in 1 Tim. 2:11-12

Paul's instructions about the place of men and women in the Church are found in 1 Timothy 2. After telling the men to take the lead in prayer in the first eight verses, Paul turns to the woman's place in verses 11-12, writing:

Let a woman learn in silence with all subjection, And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.

These verses are stating that women should be silent and not hold positions of authority in the church. Notice the way that the two verses set this out.

1. Firstly, verse 11 states this positively: ‘let a woman learn in silence with all submission'.
2. Then, verse 12 states it negatively: ‘I do not permit a woman to teach nor to have authority over a man, but to be in silence'.

In addition to the opposite ways of stating these matters in the two verses, there are also two pairs of opposites in these verses: learn and teach, submission and authority.

To understand these verses, it is important to set them in their context. The chapter starts with Paul writing about one form of public participation in the church, prayer, and concludes with another, teaching. However, the focus of the chapter shifts from prayer itself to the differing roles of men and women in relation to public participation in the church. Hence, in verse 8, Paul says, ‘I will therefore that the men (lit. ‘males') pray everywhere'. He moves on from here to state in verses 11 and 12 that the women are to be silent.

Another way to plot the flow of Paul's argument in the second half of the chapter, is to oserve that women are to be characterised by modesty in their clothing (verses 9-10). This same thought of modesty is carried over to the following verses (11 and 12) in which submission is enjoined in relation to authority and teaching in the church. Modestly in clothing is followed by modesty in another realm - that of participation and position in the church.

In relation to what we learn about participatory church gatherings from this chapter (apart from what the passage says about the silence of women) there is another point to notice. There is no word anywhere in the chapter (or anywhere else in 1 Timothy for that matter) about any particular people whom Timothy must appoint or entrust with the tasks of public prayer or teaching. In the Old Testament, the priests carried out these functions, but here in the New Testament there is no ‘special' or ‘holy' class of Christians who are to perform these functions in the church. C. K. Barrett writes, ‘Apparently all male members of the church had an equal right to offer prayer, and were expected to use their right' (The Pastoral Epistles, p. 54). With teaching, similarly, there is no restriction placed or guidelines offered about who may exercise the right to teach in the church, except for what is stated here in relation to the silence of women. Apparently all men had the right to publicly participate in the church gatherings.