Dear God, I was listening to a podcast today talk about the current paradigm for church services originating 500 years ago when people were mostly illiterate and they needed educated people to teach them what was in the Bible. But this certainly isn’t how the early church worked. There wasn’t a musical prelude, followed by a song, announcements, two more songs, a children’s sermon, an offertory, a sermon, and invitation, and a benediction (with possibly a taking of communion mixed in there somewhere). I would imagine those early church gatherings in Acts looked more like sharing lives, prayer requests, struggles, successes, etc. Maybe there would be a breaking of the bread and taking of the cup in remembrance of Jesus. Maybe someone would feel they had a message from you to share. Maybe someone would have a song they wrote that they wanted to share with everyone.

So I’ve told you many times that I’ve never really liked going to church. I always look at my watch and wonder how long until I can leave. That’s not to say that I don’t get anything out of it. There are times when I really need the experience of singing to you with other believers. Or that the pastor has a message I need to hear. So I’m not saying that I don’t need church. I’ve just never particularly enjoyed going.

So, if I were to start from scratch, take myself back to Jesus’s ascension, and then design what I thought a gathering of believers of The Way should look like, what would I want?

• I would probably want one or two songs.
• I would probably want someone to bring a thought for the day. Maybe 5-10 minutes.
• I can see wanting to spend some time in prayer. Depending on how big the gathering was, I would want to have some time for everyone to go around. Maybe different people take a different aspect of prayer. 1.) Worship 2.) Confession 3.) Thanksgiving and 4.) Supplication.
• I can see wanting to give people an opportunity to declare in intention or maybe even to accept Jesus as your savior for them.
• Communion. I would definitely have communion be part of every gathering.

I guess the biggest change for me is the prayer part would largely replace the “sermon” of most churches today. Not that we would have a message, but it would be much less central. There would be a lot more about personal prayer requests and declaring intentions to each other in a pursuit of discipleship.

Father, help me to know what to do with this. You know I’ve had this idea of having a cross-cultural Bible study. Maybe this could be a format for it. I don’t know. I do know that I love you, and I have enjoyed even this time of exploring my heart and seeing how it wants to pursue you through corporate gatherings. Holy Spirit, speak to me and guide me. Jesus, teach me and show me the way to the Father.

I pray this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

Amen