Congregational reading

No, that is not a valid argument. WHen I don't preach, I always carry something different than the person preaching for comparison. If you want to read as a congregation, such as we will do next Tuesday at our Pie and Praise service, we use the pew Bibles.

Typically, we don't read congregationally. We do have the public reading of Scripture.

 

We do a responsive reading every Sunday morning. We don't have pew Bibles, so I suppose that by default we are encouraging people to use our standard text (which is, BTW, the KJV). One of the ways around this is to use the responisive readings in the hymnal, or to have the scripture text projected or on handouts.

Not having grown up in churches that used congregational reading, I find this practice to be very encouraging and uplifting. It gives a congregation one more way to actively particpate in a worship service, while being reminded of the wonderful truths of the Word of God collectively.

 

We use the pew bibles. We serve a wide range of traditions and responsive reading is one that we try and use at least once a month. There are some great ones in our pew bible as well as many very good ones in the back of the Baptist Hymnal.

 

Our folks carry the KJV and NKJV, respectively. We do responsive reading which we place in our bulletin, or on the back of it, so we can all read w/o confusion. The responsive reading is from the KJV, the preaching/teaching; NKJV.

 

One of the good uses of multi-media...when a scripture is being read from the pulpit, the verse can be displayed for all to read.

 

It is not a valid argument unless it is also claimed that it was a valid argument against the use of the KJV in the pulpit in the early 1600's when many in the pews had the Geneva Bible.

In addition, this argument does not consider the fact that there are five or more different KJV editions in print with varying numbers of differences.

 

Is this a valid argument?

Apparently no one at these people's churches is capable of running a typewriter, photocopier, or overhead projector.

 

Agree Ransom! Our pastor reads while we stand and read along. The scripture is on 3 screens and each person is asked to read along from their own Bible. I use NKJV and pastor rotates using NASV, NKJV, KJV.

I have a real problem with responsive readings. The church we HAD to attend up north had responsive readings each Sunday and we repeated the Lord's Prayer, sang the Gloria Patri and the Doxology EVERY week. Not ONE baptism in the 12 years we lived there.... (ONLY Baptist church in the area back then.)

 

Overhead Projector.

Every Sunday, various verses, various versions selected by the Pastor in accord with the sermon later in the service (he prefers NKJV).

HankD

 

We do not use congregational readings. When I am bringing a message and reading from the Scripture it is always on the screen behind me so all can see and read along. Interesting enough even though we place it on the screen we still have more than 90 percent of adults who bring their Bibles and many of the rest use the provided pew Bibles.

Bro Tony

 

Pew Bibles solve the problem as do overheads.

 

Don't know why but I've never been too responsive to responsive readings. I guess when I was a kid, we had to read to church covenant responsively with the pastor every service. When we are asked to read in unison nowadays, the verses are flashed by Power Point, using the translation the pastor is reading from.

 

Sounds just like the SBC churhes in the area where I came from in CA.

 

I've only been a member of one church that did congregational readings, though I've visited many. Most have had an insert in the Order of Service on Sunday mornings. It seems to work well.

 

What do you mean is it necessary? Of course it is. The man of God is teaching you something and you find it unnecessary to read along with him? Is this what you did in school when the English teaching was reading a certain book in class. If you care about what is being read you'll read along.

God bless,
RR

 

I don't think that is what he was talking about. It seems to me that he was asking if it is necessary for the whole congregation to read the scripture passage together before the sermon - like many churches do.

I happen to enjoy it and will use a pew Bible if I have a different Version. That does not mean that one is better than the other, so it is an invalid argument for the superiority of one Bible version over another.