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Originally Posted by Freedom
In response to both micah6v8 and OBW, I completely agree. Meetings have different purposes, and there is value in both small group meetings, and large "single speaker" meetings. Unfortunately, WL thought he could make all meetings conform to his cookie-cutter model.
At the heart of the issue, WL assigned a function (gift) of prophesying to every member. That was a big problem, because the Bible explicitly states that each member has a different function. So this caused two problems 1) If forced people to function outside of their individual gifts and 2) It devalued the gifts for those who really were prophets of God.
WL's misinterpretation of "all can prophecy" led to free-for-all meetings that offered little to no value. I've stated before on other threads, I've heard plenty of people speak in the LC who should have best kept quiet. Things like dumping personal problems on everyone are not acceptable in a large group setting, and this is exactly why virtually all churches have an assigned speaker for such gatherings. If LC elders ever wonder why their meetings constantly go over time, well it's because they try to give the floor to more people that it's logistically possible for the set amount of time.  |
WL’s application of the “all can prophesy” principle was wrong, and this was compounded by his erroneous narrow definition of “serving God” as “serving in the church.” Consider this excerpt from the book “The Practice of the Church Life according to the God-ordained Way"
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First Corinthians 12:22-25 tells us that every believer, every member of the Body, is needed. We have been greatly influenced by Christianity to think that among all the saints, only a few are useful and have some capacity to serve the Lord. I believe that this kind of psychology still remains among us. At times we might have considered the saints and concluded that most were not useful or capable. This is the reason that the majority in Christianity have accepted the concept that not all Christians can serve God. Thus, most Christian groups select only a small group of believers and send them to a seminary to become educated according to their theology. Then they build these up as a system, the so-called clerical system, which has become a hierarchy in Christianity. This kind of psychology, this kind of thought, is the very source of hierarchy."
In reality, many non- LSM Christians do not hold WL’s view that “not all Christians can serve God” Rather they hold a broader definition of serving God in which working in secular jobs (be it as an accountant or baker or zookeeper) would be serving God if the work was done out of love for God and men.
Now many Christians (whether in a LSM-church or non-LSM church) correctly understand the Parable of the Talents to teach that, “As God’s chosen ones, we are accountable to God for serving Him with what He has given us.” The application of this parable differs depending on whether you hold the narrow or broad definition of “serving God”. For those who hold the broad definition, they would have less qualms letting a full-time Christian pastor speak on Sunday mornings, seeing that it is the full-time Christian pastor’s gift and opportunity to serve God by explaining the bible to His people. For those who hold the narrow definition, it would be inevitable that they prophesy (in WL’s manner) in meetings as they would not want to incur God’s wrath for being slothful.
For the avoidance of doubt, the Christians who hold the broad-interpretation of “serving God” can and should still contribute to Church Meetings (as 1 Cor 14:26 makes clear), instead of completely not doing anything during the Church Meetings. Outside of church meetings, there are also areas they can contribute to complement the full-time church ministers’ work. Take for example the matter of shepherding:- While I believe that the Shepherds are mainly responsible for shepherding God’s flock (eg the shepherd fights the wolf; it is difficult for the sheep themselves to fight the wolf), a sheep can, to some extent, take care of its fellow sheep by warning its neighbouring sheep “Hey I see a wolf coming”.