Chad wrote: "I have come to believe that what holds true for the
"Proclamation of the Word" by elders encompasses the reading of the
scripture and prayer, which are ministries of the word. IOW, I do not
believe the text allows us to dichotomize corporate prayer and the
Scriptures from the act of preaching as is our American habit. snip snip
"But the scripture *and* she are not void of authority. In the corporate
setting, IMHO, we cannot dichotomize between the "reading of the Word" and
the authority that it carries in that setting. There is authority in Word
*and* speaker in that setting. IOW, this is *substantially* different from a
wife reading the text to her husband at home."

I don't believe that position is supported by Scriptures.  NT Prophesying
(to be vastly distinguished from OT prophesying) was a gift of the Spirit,
used in the gathering of the church assembly, done by women also in the
public assembly (1Cor 11:4ff), but NT prophets were not a specific office in
the church (1 Cor.12:10)  These NT prophets did not have the same authority
as NT apostles.  It was a gift that was manifested in a cross section of the
NC community and not always in those who were officers or leaders in the
church (which clearly the women who publicly prayed and who prophesied in
the church were not, that is they were not leaders or officers in the
church).  Dictation of the Scriptures and prayer in the gathering of the
assembly is no more disallowed by non-officers/non-elders as was public
prayer and NT prophesying was disallowed in the early church.
Chad wrote: "then again, I realize that this list isn't populated by those
that invest much more meaning into the Sunday gathering than a public outing
at the park on a Saturday."

This was probably a cheap shot, but I for sure invest more meaning into the
Lord's Day than a public outing at a park and I would guess that most of us
do.

Carlo