>-----Original Message-----
>From: William A. Sprinkle, Jr. [mailto:bsprinkle@...]
>Sent: Tuesday, 13 April 2004 10:49 AM
>To: soundofgrace@...
>Subject: Re: [soundofgrace] Small Groups..... Community
>
>Jeff Scanlan wrote:
>
>> ......
>> Was there ever a time when ministers in our type of churches said,
'Hey
>> guys I am going to do every thing - all the teaching, all the
preaching,
>> all the visitation. I am going to start every thing the same and end
>> every thing the same in his church!'
>
>> I suspect that there was always work for laymen to do and I suspect
that
>> there would have been few ministers who would have wanted to
discourage
>> such work.
>
>Sprinkle jumps in:
>
>Virtually every pastor draws a sharp distinction between
>what happens when the church comes together and the work
>which is accomplished outside those meetings. He and his
>congregation expect that he will be the focal point of
>the meetings and perform his ministry there. The work of
>the "laymen" is to be done largely outside those gatherings.
>Nothing could be farther from the New Testament picture
>of church meetings! It is principally when the church gathers
>that the saints are to function in their various gifts and
>ministries for the purpose of edifying one another!
>
>This dichotomy in the traditional view of ministry simply
>is not to be found in the New Testament--especially in
>the meetings of the Body of Christ. Moe is right on here!
>

[Jeff comments]
I am not sure that there ever was this traditional view of the ministry.
I think that we are only presuming to see it in hindsight because we are
only seeing the negatives of previous experiences.


[Sprinkle at the jump!}
>> ......
>> I worry also that people begin to put their faith in techniques of
>> 'ministry' rather than in the ministry of the word, though I fairly
sure
>> that no one here would be guilty of that.
>
>What you are calling "techniques" I would probably call
>the New Testament pattern for church meetings.
>


[Jeff comments]
I am not referring to any particular technique or pattern. What I am
referring to is the temptation for churches to look to places like
Willow Creek or Saddleback to find out what they are doing and
presumably to emulate that because they think that thereby they too will
have success.

That is what I mean by putting faith in techniques.

If we all rush headlong into some small group pattern and even though we
might argue that it is Scriptural it still will not stop some people
saying in a few years time that he has discovered something in the
Scriptures that we have hitherto missed and that we should adopt this
new technique.



[Sprinkle at the jump!}
>> ......
>> Yes I have been in small groups and yes I believe they can be
effective.
>
>There is no need to distinguish meetings of believers in
>this way. Often in the New Testament the church is said
>to meet in a home. Surely such a meeting was what is being
>called a "small group." In the New Testament, however, it
>was simply the church coming together. Shortly after the Day
>of Pentecost, the one church at Jerusalem (comprised of
>several thousand believers) met daily in the Temple and in
>homes all over the city. Every such gathering was nothing
>less than a meeting of the church at Jerusalem!
>
>> In a society where there is so much break down and disintegration
they
>> may well be the way to go and a place where gifted teachers of the
word
>> can make a real difference.
>
>The Body of Christ is much more than "gifted teachers of the
>Word," and truly New Testament church meetings provide an
>environment which encourages and permits each believer to
>function in his gifts and ministry as the Head (not the
>pastor) of the church directs.


[Jeff comments]
High sounding enough. I would like to see how you would see this working
out in real life.

God bless,
Jeff