Testimony Meetings No Longer (Just) for Testimony Bingo

I had a thought last night regarding the whole "church not experiencing spiritual gifts" issue. I realized that around 25% of our sermons are completely unscripted, impromptu discourses as directed by the Holy Spirit (i.e.: testimony meetings). Wouldn't this mean, then, that the quality of our testimony meetings is the best barometer of the influence of spiritual gifts?

This is a big concession from someone who has previously ranked testimony as the #1 worst idea in the church. Testimony meeting now seems to be much more important that I had previously thought.

Just for fun, where do I now stand on the Top Five Worst Ideas?

1. Testimony Meeting: I'm not saying I enjoy it, but I now think it's very important.


2. Mountain Meadows Massacre: Based on my reading of John W. Turner's Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet, I don't believe this was a church idea. It was the idea of church members, like television. Of course it was a bad idea, but it doesn't qualify for a list of worst ideas in the history of the church.


3. Martin and Willie Handcart Companies: catastrophe-survivor Francis Webster brooked no criticism, although he conceded that it was a mistake. Regardless, it, too, was the decision of church members instead of the decision of the church, so it joins the list of other mistakes made by church members, like Project Orca and Julie being on The Real World.


4. Ward Activities: Severely curtailed with the elimination of activities committees.


5. Teenagers: a social construct.

via oneofthebest

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