Inrig describes the early church meetings very similarly to what you all were talking about, in that it centered around the breaking of bread - not just communion, but an entire meal, and the speaking format was open. My church is a non-denom but with Plymouth Brethren roots, and we do our weekly remembrance (communion) meeting like this. It's open and all men in fellowship can participate as the Spirit leads, with a focus on the work of Christ. We're basically telling each other the gospel, but from a multitude of perspectives. We also don't have any paid positions and no "office" of pastor. I personally don't think it goes far enough. I too am in F3, and after reading Freed to Lead, QSource, and The Starfish and the Spider, I'm sold on the idea of churches adopting a distributed leadership model. I jokingly call it F3 church, but there is seriously a lot the church could learn from the way F3 is organized and run.
The trouble with most modern preaching is that it doesn’t take the Parable of the Sower seriously. For Jesus, the problem of communication centers on the soil, not the seed. The seed is simple and plenteous, but the ground won’t take it in. We can spend 45 minutes throwing seeds in places where it won’t bear fruit, and then congratulate ourselves because “the truth was communicated.” But no it wasn’t. Communication is a two way street. What makes Jesus’s whole ministry different is that he patiently tilled the soil of men’s heart with his words and deeds. He spent his whole ministry preparing his disciples for the cross and the resurrection, which he KNEW they could receive. And by the time it happens, they still almost can’t. But then they do. And it changes the world. Soil-tilling is the Christian approach to saving the world. Jesus was the master of it. We should follow him.
There is at least one person under thirty who cares about his denomination deeply. I am a Lutheran and a Lutheran I shall remain, because Lutheranism is true. You are right about sermons, ours are 15 minutes, because the main point of attending Church, which was somehow left unmentioned in your talk, is not something learned (you can do that by reading a book) but something you receive directly from God: His literal Body and His literal Blood, a means of Grace for the wounded and broken soul, and the most important part of the Church service since the days of the apostles.
Also, I think it is very unwise for a pastor to ever reveal his politics or speak to political issues from the pulpit. He may condemn particularly heinous acts as immoral (say abortion, or the murder of Jews in the Holocaust) but he shouldn't comment on particular laws or policies beyond general moral principle, since to do so enmeshes the institutional Church in contemporary messiness, which rarely ends well. He may comment on such things publicly outside of Church, but not in his role as pastor, in which he proclaims the Grace of Christ and the moral law, and does not meddle in the passing ephemera of politics. And it must be made clear that his political positions are not binding on anyone. A pastor is not trained in criminal justice, or on economic policy, thus his opinion on such things is no more valid than that of any random person off the street. He is trained in Theology, ethics and proclaiming the Gospel of Grace, which is why he goes to seminary. These he is qualified to speak on.
Go on Amazon and get this out-of-print book, it's like three bucks.
https://www.amazon.com/Life-His-body-Gary-Inrig/dp/0877885001
Inrig describes the early church meetings very similarly to what you all were talking about, in that it centered around the breaking of bread - not just communion, but an entire meal, and the speaking format was open. My church is a non-denom but with Plymouth Brethren roots, and we do our weekly remembrance (communion) meeting like this. It's open and all men in fellowship can participate as the Spirit leads, with a focus on the work of Christ. We're basically telling each other the gospel, but from a multitude of perspectives. We also don't have any paid positions and no "office" of pastor. I personally don't think it goes far enough. I too am in F3, and after reading Freed to Lead, QSource, and The Starfish and the Spider, I'm sold on the idea of churches adopting a distributed leadership model. I jokingly call it F3 church, but there is seriously a lot the church could learn from the way F3 is organized and run.
Great convo. I don’t share the cynicism of the guest. But I agree preaching needs to be addressed.
The trouble with most modern preaching is that it doesn’t take the Parable of the Sower seriously. For Jesus, the problem of communication centers on the soil, not the seed. The seed is simple and plenteous, but the ground won’t take it in. We can spend 45 minutes throwing seeds in places where it won’t bear fruit, and then congratulate ourselves because “the truth was communicated.” But no it wasn’t. Communication is a two way street. What makes Jesus’s whole ministry different is that he patiently tilled the soil of men’s heart with his words and deeds. He spent his whole ministry preparing his disciples for the cross and the resurrection, which he KNEW they could receive. And by the time it happens, they still almost can’t. But then they do. And it changes the world. Soil-tilling is the Christian approach to saving the world. Jesus was the master of it. We should follow him.
There is at least one person under thirty who cares about his denomination deeply. I am a Lutheran and a Lutheran I shall remain, because Lutheranism is true. You are right about sermons, ours are 15 minutes, because the main point of attending Church, which was somehow left unmentioned in your talk, is not something learned (you can do that by reading a book) but something you receive directly from God: His literal Body and His literal Blood, a means of Grace for the wounded and broken soul, and the most important part of the Church service since the days of the apostles.
Also, I think it is very unwise for a pastor to ever reveal his politics or speak to political issues from the pulpit. He may condemn particularly heinous acts as immoral (say abortion, or the murder of Jews in the Holocaust) but he shouldn't comment on particular laws or policies beyond general moral principle, since to do so enmeshes the institutional Church in contemporary messiness, which rarely ends well. He may comment on such things publicly outside of Church, but not in his role as pastor, in which he proclaims the Grace of Christ and the moral law, and does not meddle in the passing ephemera of politics. And it must be made clear that his political positions are not binding on anyone. A pastor is not trained in criminal justice, or on economic policy, thus his opinion on such things is no more valid than that of any random person off the street. He is trained in Theology, ethics and proclaiming the Gospel of Grace, which is why he goes to seminary. These he is qualified to speak on.