The purpose of togetherness is the benefit of mutual encouragement. That this became the reason for their meetings is clear from 1 Corinthians 14:26. It reads,
“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 [oikodome -edifying, edification, [building up] of the church.”
When most Christians think of “attending church”, they usually think of sitting silently in their pews and observing the work of a select few (i.e., the pastor and his ministerial staff). They know that very little is expected of them but to passively absorb sermons and pass the offering plate. In contrast to these man-made traditions, the New Testament teaches that gathering with the brethren is a participating event where each believer is allowed to contribute his or her spiritual gift for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7; 14:12, 26, cf Romans 12:6-8; Eph. 4:15-16). Peter writes,
“As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God; whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ . . ..”
(1 Peter 4:10-11). How can we continue to justify placing our responsibility of mutual edification and ministry into the hands of professional clergymen? One brother has said it well: “We have centered our entire ministry in our paid professionals and thereby sold our birthright for a padded pew.”
The truth is, our traditional and contemporary ways of “having church” with its passive “laity” and overworked “clergy” doing the work has no basis in the New Testament. Edward Schweizer, in his description of early Christian worship, writes:
The togetherness of the church and its services is not that of a theatre audience, where one or several paid actors act on the stage while everybody else is looking on. Each one takes part with his special gift . . . the body of Christ is not a body of soldiers in which one sees at best the neck of the preceding man . . . it is a body consisting of members living in their mutual addressing, asking, challenging, comforting, sharing of Christ and His gifts.[1]
There is no place for such professionalism in the body of Christ, according to the New Testament. Our culture teaches us that if the plumbing is broken, you call a plumber and if the soul needs attention, you call the preacher.
[1] Zwingli, Ulrich, “The Service of Worship,” Neostestamentica. Zurich, p. 335-336.