Comment Highlights for Week of July 17, 2011
As I mentioned in the first post in this series, I want to highlight some of the comments that have been left on my blog posts during the past week. Hopefully, this will give more visibility to some of the reasons that I love blogging – dialog and interaction.
Quincy left this comment on my post “Why keep the worship service?“:
As far as the traditional weekly worship/sermon service, I don’t see any need to keep it going. I believe the smaller group setting and daily shared life should be the focus. I do believe that larger gatherings are important, but shouldn’t be the focus and shouldn’t necessarily happen as often as they typically do now or even with the same structure.
It’s too easy to get lost and forgotten in huge groups, especially when everyone is focused on one person or one small team of people doing all the ministry.
John left this comment on the post “Guest Blogger: Hospitality and the Life of the New Testament Churches“:
I love it! Thank you, Art. We have “thrown our lives away” for the very purposes you have described. We encounter the same barriers and breakthroughs described above.
Just this morning my wife and I lay in bed agonizing over it- “God everyone we care about seems to be rejecting this way of life”. We can feel like Amish without the community but all the ostracization. Sometimes we think we should literally become Amish.
But we press on trying to be open in a closed society, looking for opportunity to love those who are feeling unloved…thanks for the encouragement that there are others who are like-minded!!!
Nick left this comment on my post “That’s not like any conference I’ve ever attended“:
This is a great conference! I attended it last year. Its put together by Frank Viola, Milt Rodriguez and Alan Levine. They are Organic Church practitioners. They run it every year in Orlando in July and this year it was run for the first time in Switzerland as well. I would recommend it highly for anyone who is interested in moving on from the same old tired and unbiblical institutional church. Its very practical and last year we even had the brothers and sisters from an organic church in Gainesville come and share – it was deeply inspiring.
Todd left this comment on my post “Music divides the church“:
Great post. Is the bottom line being fully “surrendered and mature” to experience the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit no matter what, how, with whom, where, etc.? I say it’s a lifelong area for growth and loving humility. Other “dividers” and distractions come to mind… – We songs/I and Me songs, formal/casual dress, children’s programs, mostly young people/mostly old people, Calvinist/Arminian, Bible version used, pews/folding chairs, hymnals/lyrics on screen, offering/no offering taken, Communion in service/only in small groups, live teacher/video, etc., etc., etc.