SCRIPTURE: 1 Corinthians 14
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. [1 Corinthians 14:26]
When the Corinthians met together, their focus was on having powerful, charismatic gatherings.
Paul urges them to focus rather on having loving, edifying gatherings.
Its great if you have a powerful personal encounter with God, but that is something you can do on your own; keep the focus on your public gatherings mutual blessing and encouragement.
Let the love of Jesus be tangible when you get together.

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. [John 13:35]
I am convinced that this is how the Spirit speaks and works best, when every member of the body participates, sharing the love and truth of Jesus.
Not by charismatic worship, nor by eloquent messages by trained preachers, but by real, raw, down-to-earth interaction between ordinary Jesus-followers.
People will be impacted: When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. [Acts 4:13].

In this passage, Paul stresses that their public gatherings should be edifying (better to teach in plain language than to pray in unknown language, vv.1-25), inclusive (everyone shares something, each person in turn so no one person dominates it all, vv.26-33) and orderly (speaking in turn, not being disruptive, not allowing personal conversations between spouses, vv.29-40).
Do what it takes so that everyone can benefit together!

It seems to me that the pendulum has swung to the other extreme.
In order to control the crowd, we have ceased to be inclusive.
The whole gathering is led by a few, or by one man up front.
People are passive, receiving whatever is given or imposed on them.
I am starting to think that we need to find ways to increase the participation of everyone present – not just in singing songs, but in sharing struggles, testimonies, wisdom, etc.
I feel that in order to be edifying, we need to return the ‘worship’ and the ‘word’ to the people, to be inclusive.
We need to become active participants, not passive recipients.
Each person needs to have the opportunity to offer their own praise or prayer or testimony or teaching.
How this is done will take planning and direction, so that it remains edifying, inclusive and orderly.

PRAYER:
Lord, release the church to be the church, when we gather and when we serve!