Called Out In Kansas
Building the Kingdom of God in Larned, KS
After the Worship Conference – Sept. 2
Posted on 02. Sep, 2010 by Mark in The Purpose of God, Worship
A lot has been going through my mind since attending the worship conference. It is interesting to look back at the notes that I took, and the things that I learned, and realize that the impact of the experience goes way beyond the sum total of all I learned there. There was a very specific impartation there, which has put my mind to thinking in a different manner. I feel that in the next month or two I will come to some new understanding on things, compared to how I see now, and that is why I am putting a date on this post title. I believe the impact of that will be far-reaching, and want to reserve the right to return to that at any point!
I want to give links to the first two posts regarding the conference. For some reason the Day 2 post had a pretty high readership, but either no one, or virtually no one, read the first post, or at least as far as I can tell. There were some thoughts in the first post that were ground-breaking for me, so I wanted to share both links again, in case anyone missed the first one.
After attending this conference, two blog posts I read have continued the process of rethinking in my mind. I want to provide links, and encourage everyone to read these posts. They are not long, but they speak to the questions that are in my mind.
Stirring Up | The Ekklesia in Southern Maine.
The Purpose of Participation | The Assembling of the Church.
So, here’s the situation. I’ve been a vocal proponent of participatory style meetings, and very critical of traditional church models. I still believe that the New Testament model is participatory, and that a single pastorate system is unbiblical, and harmful to the maturity of the body. But, as pointed out by Alan and Dan in the above posts, just attending participatory meetings doesn’t guarantee that the end result will be any different than in the system we just left. My concern for this movement, if you want to call it that, is that we will recreate a system, and never achieve the maturity of the body described in Ephesians 4. Like Alan said, the goal is to become like Christ, or to literally become His body and bride, fully matured. Will meeting in a circle instead of in rows with a pulpit bring that about? Unfortunately, in and of itself, no. The question I now pose, after reading these posts, is what do we do IN these meetings that brings maturity? Certainly Hebrews 10:24-25 gives some insight, stating that we are to consider one another to stir up love and good works, which I interpret to mean we are to esteem others higher than ourselves, and care more for their needs than for our own. But I am not sure that this even gives the whole picture.
I have further thoughts on this, but I fear things will get too lengthy. I’m going to stop here and finish my thoughts tomorrow.
One Response to “After the Worship Conference – Sept. 2”