The bible makes clear that when a church meets together it is meant to be a body experience, with everyone playing their part, not a few people leading at the front with the congregation as spectators/backing singers.
The bible says 'When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation' (1 Corinthians 14:26). It also makes clear what these are for. 'Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.'. For everyone to both expect to have something to bring when the church meets together and to actually speak out what they have really matters, but you wouldn't know it to look at many churches.
Too many churches who claim to believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit don't actually reflect that in practice in their meetings. As someone has put it, they are 'functionally cessationist', claiming to be believe in the gifts of the Spirit but in practice looking little different to churches who do not believe in the gifts. You can detect this in several ways:
1. Does the church actively encourage contributions? Too many leaders, used to speaking in public, forget how scary it can be for many people. Equally, for new Christians or those who have joined from churches where the congregation did not play a role, how are they to know that not only is it normal for them to have gifts to bring, but it is actively expected and encouraged, unless this is regularly stated? Closely related to this is:
2. Does the church set such a high bar for bringing contributions that they are discouraged in reality? This is often manifested in asking anyone with a contribution to share it with the leader at the front before bringing it. I get that there are some contributions with such potential significance that it is right for others to weigh it first, but the reality is that words of that significance are few and far between. (If only they were more often!). If that rule is applied to all or most contributions to be brought, it discourages those lacking in confidence or newly stepping out. Yes, it is very important that words which are brought are scripturally-based, but to be honest, if words are regularly brought that go against scripture, that says more about issues that need to be addressed on the quality and effectiveness of teaching in the church.
3. Does the church actually make room for the congregation to bring contributions during the worship? Too many churches I visit sing one song after another with no space inbetween.
4. Does the church limit contributions to a particular slot during the service? Sometimes churches have the 'one song after another' approach and then say 'before we have the notices, does anyone have anything they want to share?' Not only is separating it out like this psychologically creating another version of the 'high bar', they are also missing out on so much. Great worship which includes gifts and contributions is often like a jigsaw, with a song being followed by someone praying on the same theme, which then triggers someone else to prophesy, that then leads to another song that builds people up on the same subject. (This also requires worship leaders and bands to be sensitive and flexible, changing the song they planned to have next when that is appropriate!)
5. You can tell a lot by how the worship leader looks. Do they look out towards the congregation, keeping an eye for someone who has stood up and looks like they may be about to open their mouth? Do they look for whether someone has come to the front and is waiting to speak? Or do they just look into the middle distance, oblivious to anyone but themselves?
But, someone might say, what if someone brings something unbiblical in what they say? If the church is well taught, those occasions should hopefully be few but, even if that arises sometimes and requires leaders to have to think on the spot how to respond, isn't that part of the responsibilities of being a leader? Far better to face up to that and be biblical in how gifts are encouraged and used than have a cautious 'never take a risk' approach which is then reflected in the wider culture of the church.
