Is having members quote memory verses during worship proper?
Question:
Good day, Brother Jeff,
During our worship on Sunday, we sing (Ephesians 5:19); we have teachings from the Bible (or a Bible study part), since we have not allotted a day for our Bible study but only on Sunday; we pray; we have the "collection of the saints" (I Corinthians 16:1-2); and the Lord's Supper as stated in Acts 20:7. But we have a portion in our Sunday service that we give a memory verse. Each one of us will share his or her verse, lifted from the Bible, which happens after the opening prayer. We have just over 30 members.
My question Brother Jeff is: Are we following the right way to worship? Is the portion of giving or sharing a memory verse from the Bible acceptable in the Lord's worship? Please help me be enlightened.
P. S. We don't have a full-time preacher in our congregation, but we are all helping and working for the Lord's church. I am the Bible teacher, my father and one elder do the sermon, my cousin leads in the singing and some brothers help in the acts of worship; e.g. prayers for the collection and teaching lessons from the Bible.
Answer:
Reading the Bible is an appropriate part of worship. As Paul told Timothy, "Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine" (I Timothy 4:13).
The problem is that a command is being ignored: "Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church. Or did the word of God come originally from you? Or was it you only that it reached? If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord" (I Corinthians 14:34-37).
