Quote:
Originally Posted by leastofthese
Are you defining a clergy-laity system based on a meeting format or as the practice of a church body? I guess I could google it.
I regularly participate with a group of believers from different “denominations” where we sit in a circle, break bread and people are free to share a word, hymn, song, praise, etc. This is much different than at the LSM churches, where most everyone regurgitates LSM approves materials. In an attempt for some appearance of authenticity, my LSM locality was “training” people not to read directly from the LSM material. It was too blatantly obvious what was going on and they wanted people to stick to the script, but not to directly read. This carries over into home meetings too... so sad!
They also mentioned this at the training in Anaheim, so I assume this is true throughout. Those who are skilled in regurgitating Witness Lee in their own words get extra Amen’s.
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I used the term system in a loose way. There is the clergy-laity system which is the official way things are ordered and structured by clergy and laity. But practice wise, some "clergy-laity" churches may not practice clergy-laity distinctions as much as others. And in the recovery a church may practice a clergy-laity distinction more than a Catholic church. This is something we need to be aware of, and it all starts with expecting only one person to speak every Sunday, or one person insisting they speak and not giving others a chance. This happens because people don't read their morning revivals and Bible at home during the week, they come to the meeting and expect others who have to fill in their knowledge gaps. This is no different really to a person in the denominations going to church on a Sunday to listen to the priest and never reading their devotionals and bible at home.