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What I Have Found
My introduction to "brethren" assemblies.*
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Before we leave this topic (about which I have written in more depth in the booklet, Is the One-Pastor System Scriptural?), I must mention a most precious spin-off effect I have witnessed from this practice of sharing the public ministry among the men, and that is its effect on the families of the assembly. Who can measure the profound impression made upon a child, week after week, to see his father--not "the preacher," "the pastor," "the minister," but his father--standing and expounding the Word of God, or rising at the prompting of the Holy Spirit to share a simple thought on the glories of Christ at the Lord's table. And is the blessing of it any less profound for the godly wife and mother sitting next to the child? Oh, is not the heart-cry of so many wives today, "If only my husband were more interested in spiritual things"? Is not the overriding need of the family today that of fathers and husbands who are willing and able to grasp the reins of spiritual leadership? Is not this need mirrored in the churches as well?
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The distressing thing about us as men is that, while we were created for spiritual leadership, we are by nature lax about assuming it. If women will take the spiritual lead, most men will be content to let them. If a professional pastor is available to do the preaching, teaching, witnessing, counseling, etc., most men will very comfortably slip into the spectator role. In the "brethren" assemblies, though, the men are encouraged, expected, and given the opportunity to exercise their gifts--there is no one else to do it! And they see this modeled before them by other men, whom they know to be neither seminary-trained, ordained, nor paid, ministering the Word, shepherding the flock, and doing other ministry work. It is beautiful to see how under these circumstances men rise to the occasion, with untold benefits accruing to the church and spilling over into the home.
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