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Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by Salty, Mar 27, 2011.

  1. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    When you or your pastor preaches during the Sun am service do individuals try to make comments or ask questions?

    If so, do you encourage or discourage such verbal expressions?

    If you do not care for such actions, what do you do when someone does ask a question?

    Also, do many folks often spurt out an AMEN after a very excellent statement from the pulpit?
     
  2. Zenas

    Zenas Active Member

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    I've neve seen any of that, except the occasional AMEN, and not even that since the old deacon who did it died about 18 years ago.
     
  3. annsni

    annsni Well-Known Member
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    I've never seen questions from the congregation during a message but I have heard "amen" and stuff. Heck, I've even done that! :)
     
  4. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    Your pastor allows women to say AMEN :smilewinkgrin:
     
  5. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    Actually folks in our church do it rather frequently
     
  6. JohnDeereFan

    JohnDeereFan Well-Known Member
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    Not in my experience. But on the other hand, I get podcasts from Bethlehem Baptist Church in Mass, and they do. But in all fairness to them, I get the feeling that these are not the typical Sunday AM services.

    I would discourage it for a couple of reasons, but would make it clear that I would be happy to answer questions afterward.

    I would just tell them that I'd be happy to answer any questions afterward and that every fifth Sunday, we have "Stump the Pastor" and they can ask then, if they like.

    Yes.
     
  7. mandym

    mandym New Member

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    On Sunday PM we have a Bible study open discussion format and it is encouraged them. Sunday AM I will not allow it.
     
  8. Gina B

    Gina B Active Member

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    My old church was give and take most of the time. Sometimes it wasn't. Discussion and questions were encouraged. If there was something not understood or not agreed on we studied it until everyone was on the same page. Sometimes he'd give everyone the same passage of scripture, we'd break into groups and discuss it, then come back together and the chosen "spokesperson" for each group would say what we gleaned from the passage.

    Where I'm at now it's just preaching. No interaction during church.

    Amen's aren't uncommon but they aren't overwhelming.

    I still giggle thinking about two different churches where the "amen corner" was a little out of hand. Some of THE funniest comments came out of people! One old guy would sometimes yell out "BREAK IT DOWN!" and it conjured up images of break-dancing. LOL Some seemed to just randomly spurt out something.

    "and his wife, Rebekka, begat Esau..."
    "That's right, PREACH IT!"

    I do miss the sweetness and unity that came from those times of interaction. We LEARNED. We THOUGHT. We were involved with each other. It was family.

    Another place I loved was in a no-name village somewhere on the way to Barrow. That was much more charismatic, services mostly consisting of testimonies and spontaneous song. No way to describe gathering together in a shack in the middle of nowhere and nothing for miles around singing "I've got a mansion" with a group of people who really don't have much more than the extreme basics of life.

    One Spanish church I visited would have half a sermon and then have a 15 minute break so people could go outside and smoke.

    I've been so blessed in so many ways throughout my various experiences with churches. There's no denying that different places and different cultures all have different ideas and ways of worshiping.
     
  9. righteousdude2

    righteousdude2 Well-Known Member
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    It Depends on the Congregation, and the Type of Service

    I've preached in mostly Caucasian congregations where no one blurts out questions, or comments during the AM message. The PM message, and the mid-week message is different, especially if its relaxed, informal and more of a teaching atmosphere.

    Now, that is not true in black congregations. There are not only Amen's, hallelujah's and preach it pastor; there are times that the organist and the choir will pick up on a particular thought I shared, and make a song like event out of it.

    I have preached at many black churches over the years, and to be truthful, I like their enthusiasm and find it refreshing. I provides a certain amount of excitement to the service. When they can make a song out of something they heard and liked, I am not offended. I would be kind of offended and question the content of the message if they didn't get all excited throughout the sermon. The singing, clapping of hands, stomping the feet, standing to their feet and applauding the Father! That for me is a spiritual rush.

    However, as I said in the beginning, I think this is a cultural thing as much as it is a spiritual thing. At the same time, what I experienced at black congregations does not equate to asking questions.

    Asking questions can lead quickly to differences of opinions, and that could bring about an abrupt halt to the Spirit of God moving through the message. The phenomena I experienced in the black churches seemed to enhance the message, but as a pastor, you must be able to keep your spirit on track, and not get lost or caught up in the interruptions, or the content of the message can be lost.

    I hope this made sense, and provided a different approach to your question, which I think is interesting. I've enjoyed the comments thus far, and look forward to others sharing their experiences.

    Shalom,

    Pastor Paul
     
  10. preachinjesus

    preachinjesus Well-Known Member
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    Not really...though they probably mutter a lot...;)

    We have several large worship gatherings so anyone prone to discussion realizes it isn't the proper venue. Never had a problem with this.

    Declare them out of order and ask the Sargent at Arms to dismiss them....I don't know what we'd do, probably ignore them.

    We dissuade anyone from spurting....though at our earlier worship hour we do get some "amening" from people. We get a lot of clapping in appreciation of a statement. But honestly, we give out note sheets with blanks every service so most people are busy writing.
     
  11. NaasPreacher (C4K)

    NaasPreacher (C4K) Well-Known Member

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    I don't mind honset questions at all. Sometimes I encourage them.

    'Amening' is not cultural here, but I like it unless it is disruptive.
     
  12. Baptist Believer

    Baptist Believer Well-Known Member
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    Back when I was pastoring, the previous pastor had been hyper-authoritative and did not allow anyone to ask him questions or challenge any of the new "revelations" he received from God... Apparently, on a number of Sunday mornings he didn't even open the Bible and just preached on the new revelation he had received that week while he was driving through the pasture on his land near the town. (Apparently "God" only spoke to him in that pasture.) After the membership finally rejected his cult-style leadership, he left with a few die-hard followers and started his own church that lasted about a month.

    When I arrived, I let it be known in no uncertain terms that anything I said must be biblically-based, and the congregation was happy to challenge me on anything at any time and I would show them in scripture where I was basing my opinion.

    They took me up on it!

    Most of the time I was very careful to stay within the immediate text I had selected for Sunday morning, but occasionally I would refer to another text, forgetting to explicitly cite the reference, and would get challenged. I would then give the reference and we would all look at it together. I would also sometimes get questions when i was not communicating something very well or I inadvertently interpreted a passage of scripture differently from the previous pastor. I gradually gained something of an understanding of the previous pastor's theology on the basis of the unusual interpretations he had given some fairly straightforward texts.

    Now this was a fairly small congregation at the time, so it wasn't horribly disruptive if someone interrupted the flow of the sermon. Moreover, if someone did, most people in the room were probably dealing with the same questions.

    After I had been there about 18 months, I had gained a high degree of trust and they had received a fairly solid biblical foundation (I preached verse-by-verse through Romans) so the interruptions only occurred once a month or so.
     
  13. annsni

    annsni Well-Known Member
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    I just say it silently. ;)
     
  14. abcgrad94

    abcgrad94 Active Member

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    My dh usually teaches in an open style for Sunday nights, and asks questions and invites answers. Our church is informal and if we want to say "amen," we do so, it doesn't matter if it's a man or woman saying it, either.

    We have had trouble with people blurting out opinions, etc. during Sunday mornings and that is very frustrating. In one case, it's a teen boy with Asperger's whose parents can't seem to make him be quiet. Usually we grin and bear it, but sometimes dh will hold up his hand and tell him to "wait" if he goes on and on. The other cases were a bi-polar woman who used her "mental illness" as an excuse to interrupt and a man who just wanted to cause trouble. Thankfully, neither of those attend our church anymore.
     
  15. revmwc

    revmwc Well-Known Member

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    my esperience

    I have had both questions and also a deacon stand up and storm out the back door when he disagreed with a statement I made. I will stop answer the question and then continue the message. Church is a learning place not a place for just sermans. If someone truly wants to learn about spiritual things is the church not the place of learning. Yes the bible is their best source but if they don't understand a passage or they want a clarification on something you are teaching are we not the teacher and a teachers job is to teach which menas ansering questions. Now if you say I am not a teacher I am a preacher maybe you shouldn't be pastoring, maybe you should be an evangelist. Those called to pastors according to scripture were given the gift of Pastor-Teacher not evangelist. That may be the problem with our churches today too many evangelist filling the pulpit and not enough Pastors-Teachers. A pastor should always be willing to anser questions concerning God's word even in the worship service, it is after all the classroom to scripture and the Father not a place to lecture the folks and leave.
    Here is something I did that worked rather well at the church I pastored. I had a box placed in the church foyer for folks to drop questions they had about biblical things. I would take those questions and develop a message around them. One was did Noah take baby animals on the Ark? Yes, I did develop a message on it. This helps you get a feel for where the people are and things they wonder about. You can with the Holy Spirits help develop a message on any question asked and it makes you dig as well. This helps get the youth involved they after all have many questions and no question should be thought of as unworthy to answer if it was asked it is something worth checking into.
     
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