And when they had come to him, he said to them: "You know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews; how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 20:18-21 (emphasis mine)
Corporate worship in a local church is the primary ministry of the local church. Corporate worship has four indispensable components: (1) Reading & Preaching the Word, (2) Prayer, (3) Worship in Song, (4) The Sacraments—Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
Additional components are additional, and not essential. Some non essentials (announcements, missionary updates, etc.), are helpful and good so long as they do not eclipse the three essentials. Other non-essentials are more likely to divert the congregation’s focus away from the essentials and are therefore probably best avoided.
What about the essentials? When recording what the first church in Jerusalem “continued steadfastly in” immediately after Pentecost “the Apostles’ doctrine” is listed first (Acts 2:42). “Continuing steadfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine” is synonymous with reading and preaching the Word of God. Preaching is primary.
Reading: I confess, I used to shy away from reading longer portions of God’s Word for fear that people would not follow and remain engaged. Then I understood 1 Timothy 4:13, “Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.” Obviously, “giving attention to exhortation and doctrine” refers to preaching. But then I learned that “giving attention to reading” isn’t a reference to personal reading, but to the public reading of God’s Word.
As a result, we began reading longer passages including reading through the Psalms in our Lord’s Day worship. The power of God’s Word is in the Word itself, not in the people’s attention. Paying attention is indeed important, but God’s Word is powerful in and of itself. So let us pay attention so as not to miss the power of the Word of God as it is read in the worship services.
One footnote. Those who read the Word aloud should also do their best to know and understand what they are reading so as to read the Word in a manner that helps make what is being read as understandable to those who are listening and following along.
Next: A few words about preaching.