By Dennis Rowan
May 18, 2005

......When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. (1Co 14:26, NIV)

Let's face it, attending a church service is definitely a spectator sport for most men. This happens because men sitting in pews listening to a sermon are simply participating in a system that has been in place (and flawed for that matter) for 1700 years. I submit that it is more a fault of the system and than a fault of the pew-sitting men.

Spectator sport? How so? Well, there are always more men sitting in pews listening to teaching and preaching than those standing up front talking. I've heard many a preacher say his job is to equip the saints; but for what, an eternity of sitting in pews listening to someone talk? According to 1Co 14:26 when Christians come together, "everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation." With 500 or perhaps 5000 spectators, suppose half of them have a word of instruction. That would be 2500 in the larger flock. Are they all going to speak? It's not gonna happen. Notice the last part of 1Co. 14:26 says, "All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church." Could the failure to follow such a biblical mandate explain why the churches in America seem to have such little affect on our culture, because the church has not been strengthened?

I spent about 20 years on college campuses. That equated into a lot of time in classrooms either as a student or a teacher. A few "professional" students, as they were called, spent extra years going to school just because they loved learning and/or didn't have the self-disipline to finish and go get a job. I often think church-goers are like those professional students, except rather than a few extra years, they spend decades in the pew listening to someone talk. I realize God's Word is eternal, and one should never finish studying the Bible, but the perpetual pew-sitting, non participating, supposedly being prepared for works of ministry by religious ceremony has been enough to keep millions of men out of church buildings.

There is definitely something wrong with this picture, the non-paticipatory type of church service. It's not biblical! You cannot not find instructions in the Bible that support the idea that people sit in a large room and watch and listen to one talented speaker speak and a few talented singers sing...it ain't in the Bible. And guess what, the very guys doing all the preaching and teaching should know what the Bible does and does not say about church meetings. Maybe you have already guessed why they don't offer up sermons outlining proper orderly church meetings; they would show the pew-sitters that there is no clear Biblical justification for their salaried job as a pastor. Shepherd or hireling?

As for those who are spectators, the Bible says you need to do more than sit and listen. I often say people in the pews will go where they are lead. Men in the pews are not the primary problem, it is the men who lead the men in the pews who have the larger responsibility. Someone needs to lead men men into church services where all who have a hymn or a word of instruction can do so according to the Scriptures. This would mean most would need to turn to the house church just as Christians did for the first 300 years. Do that, and men will participate.