What is “mutual edification?”
Question:
Is the term "Mutual Edification" associated with the Ketcherside movement? We had a couple come into our services today, and they seemed to go out of their way not to tell us exactly where they attend. It seemed to me that he was indicating that he was trying to find a place to preach. In a brief comment, he said something like" I guess then that you don't practice mutual edification then."
Answer:
Mutual Edification refers to a group of congregations who believe there should be no local preacher. Preachers are only to be sent to teach the lost. They insist that it is the obligation of every male member in a congregation to edify all other members mutually. They strongly reject the idea that one person would do most of the preaching in a congregation. Yes, the ideas have their history in the teachings of Carl Ketcherside and Leroy Garrett. F. LaGuard Smith is perhaps the most "famous" of the current advocates of this idea.
Don Martin has a summary of a discussion he had on the topic at http://www.bibletruths.net/Archives/BTAR239.htm
I found a debate on the subject at http://religiousdebates.com/mutmin/mutminframe.htm. Unfortunately, the background makes it difficult to read, but you can print the pages, which will be easier to read.
