My pastor does this at the Wed. night Bible study, but he would probably think of it as expository teaching, with a bit of preaching thrown in.

For his Sunday sermons, Pastor relies on the leading of the Holy Spirit as to what he should preach about. His sermons are “meaty”, with a healthy focus on our great need for Christ in every area of our lives, as well as on the incredible grace of God.

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I’ve never been housebound or otherwise in need of having a minister come to me to administer the Lord’s supper. And I don’t think I’ve ever been part of a church family that would condone individual believers doing it on their own. (In my church, for instance, only teaching elders can administer the sacraments. For years that meant only our senior pastor, but it now includes one other elder/pastor.) My pastor has taken communion to those who are recovering from surgery.

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I have. One of the most memorable and meaningful communions I have ever celebrated was on Easter Sunday 1991. I was laid up (literally lame) with a herniated disc. I had not been anywhere except to sick call in weeks. One of my best friends who happened to be a lay Eucharistic minister in the Catholic church came to my house after the Catholic service at the chapel and brought me communion. I never asked her to. She did it because she knew what it would mean to me. I will never forget it. She caught a lot of flack for it too bacause I’m not Catholic.

My own chaplain couldn’t be bothered.

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“In talking about the role of the children, my 5-year-old kept asking my wife, “Is he talking about me?”

We had this with our children, too. With the emphasis on qualified clergy, however, and correct theology, I now wonder how long the children will feel connected. When we fail to include the lay person and his/her life experiences as a regular feature of fellowship, the saints are not connected to each other, and life’s “surprises” feel like surprises when they would not have to be so much of a shock because God’s people have been regularity sharing and listening to each other’s life stories for years before the testing came. It is not all about one man standing up front and getting it more right than the next guy.

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My church is heavily involved in missions. with all the money needed to do missions, the fundraiser that has caught on best has been “mission meals”. Once a month, most months, some of the people needing to raise funds get together to prepare food for a meal after church. Instead of descending on the local restaurants or cooking a big Sunday meal at home, people can stay at church and eat. No price is set per plate, but donations are taken.

We also have Fellowship meals on Wednesday evenings before classes. (We have undergraduate-level Bible and theology classes on Wednesday nights at the same time children have “Equipping to Praise” – children’s choirs and drama – and “Team Kids” – sports-type activities for those not inclined toward performing arts to teach teamwork within the Body of Christ.)

Another practice during normal worship services is for the choir and orchestra to lead worship and come to sit in the congregation afterward for the sermon and invitation. Any other congregational music is led only by the Director of worship, pianist and organist. Being able to come sit with families and children is beneficial.

Sunday evening services were recently changed to be more family-oriented. We have a small group of adults and youth who participate in a “praise band” type group. Whole families will come up to read scripture at key points. Materials for younger kids related to the message are printed and available for them to draw/color on, etc. The messages are also geared to convey solid theology to all age groups. As we’ve been going through Galatians, a recent message calling fathers to assume the mantle of spiritual leadership in their families was given by our Minister of Evangelism. In talking about the role of the children, my 5-year-old kept asking my wife, “Is he talking about me?” What a blessing this service has been.

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