Comment to 'Context of 1 Corinthinans 14?'
Comment to Context of 1 Corinthinans 14?

  • A great post and a very keen summary paragraph, too:

    Generally speaking, I feel like many churches actually discourage active participation by those in attendance. This gets back to the notion of the clergy-laity system that we often discuss in this forum. How can the clergy retain control if they don't keep the sheep in line and submissive? Like any other human endeavor, hierarchical systems are threatened by the free flow of information. Participatory worship threatens those who seek to control the church.

    Todd, somehow in all of this we must work toward unity with other Christians, which admittedly seems impossible on some days.

    For myself, I have likely been too harsh at times in my own criticisms. I have blamed the paid clergyman for excessive control and I still hold to that sad reality. HOWEVER, I must add that, in my own (very limited) experience, for every controlling clergy there are dozens of excuse-making, lazy "laymen" who are more than content to do NOTHING in terms of ministry or service to the church and others.

    My point, however feeble, is that there is blame on both sides. And so, the system feeds off of itself... as the centuries roll by.

    • T

      I think that you're spot-on with your comment on unity within the church. This is why, when possible, I bypass the clergy and go directly to the laity. God has given us a wonderful tool in email, so it's easy to directly reach out to my church friends without the clergy having any ability to shut down the Gospel message that I seek to bring. In fact, I also have ordained leaders in my email list so that they can see what I'm saying as well. It puts them on notice that their sheep are hearing something different that what the clergy offers.

      While it doesn't surprise me, whenever I send an email I am likely to get a response from the laity yet receive no response whatsoever from the clergy. You would think that if I'm sending a message of faith in Christ and an affirmation that Jesus is God Incarnate, come in the flesh to save us from our sins, that the clergy would be quick to encourage me to continue this work. Instead, it's crickets. Why is that? Why would the clergy not do everything in their power to promote the Gospel by sending a quick "keep it up" message when it is so simple to do? My fear is that it's because they know that the true Gospel represents a threat to the "good order" of their churches. Even though I never criticize the church directly or call out the leadership for their failures, even a discussion of Jesus as a warm and loving Savior appears to be some kind of threat. My belief is that they think that it's easier to keep people in line with threats than by doing the really hard work of teaching the Gospel in its entirety. Shaming people into keeping in line takes much less time and effort than teaching.

      I will break break with anyone professing Christ as outlined above since that is what we have in common. I can do nothing if they reject me as not being a good enough Christian to want to share the bread and the cup.