Category: Expository Church
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Beauty in the Church
I remember walking into one church building, it was a church that had seen my resume and called me for an interview. The building was rundown, dirty, the wall paint was no longer white, the carpet was coming up, and there was a hole in the ceiling of the auditorium. It was not a very…
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Public Prayer in The Church Service
God’s house is to be a house of prayer (Matthew 21:13). So, in church services we try to follow that instruction by having intermittent prayer around preaching and singing and by having entire gathering times dedicated to only prayer. What place does prayer actually have in the gathering? This will be an important topic for…
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How Should We Practice The Lord’s Supper?
The Lord’s Supper, or the Eucharist, is a regular part of Christian worship. As a reminder of my goal in this leadership series, I am not considering all of the theological implications of the practice. Concerning the Lord’s Supper, I am making these presuppositions: The proper view of the Lord’s Supper is at least memorial…
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Baptism: form follows function
My purpose here is not to consider the practice of baptism in general or to define exactly what baptism is. My purpose is to consider what place baptism has in the church worship service explicitly and the biblical methodology of practicing baptism. Here are my assumptions: Baptism is not required for salvation but is an…
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Thinking About Hospitality in the Church Service
I want to be very clear about what my goal is through this particular leadership series. This series is meant to evaluate certain practices in the local church gathering in light of biblical principles. I am not condemning any practice, nor am I elevating one practice over another. I am under the understanding that in…
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Should There Be a Formal Invitation in the Church Service?
The church invitation was always an awkward moment for me. I grew up in a Southern Baptist Church where, after the sermon every week, a formal invitation was given for anyone to go to the front of the auditorium and talk with a pastor. I have often sat with other pastors who gauged the success…
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Should We Take Up Offering At Church?
Should the local church take up offerings? The passing of the offering plate is part of the liturgy (order of service) in many local churches. Many have also done away with the offering time. Most of the reasoning behind removing the offering time seems to be that churches don’t want guests to be pressured or…
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Dancing in Church, is there a place for the performing arts?
We know that what we win people with is what we win them to. So, we intentionally reject any sort of attractional ministry in the expository church (the church that wishes to operate by God’s word alone and for the glory of God alone). The congregational music of the expository church follows certain biblical principles,…
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Music Matters and Matters of Music
One of the greatest dividers in both society and in the church over the centuries has been music. Most people love music. It has become an almost essential part of our worship gatherings. It has become such an integral part of our services that when people perceive that it is not done properly it divides…
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Is There Really a Place for Preaching and Teaching in the Local Church?
There are a few different philosophies regarding the place of preaching and teaching in the church. Admittedly, I am a little biased. I am a preacher. Different churches have chosen to do things in different ways. There are churches who have much teaching and little of anything else, churches who limit the sermon time to…