SAME OLE, SAME OLE - 1
or VAIN REPETITION?
​ (Pastor Paul Fedena)
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“Sameness kills.” 
“Variety is the spice of life.” 
“Dead formalism.” 
“Familiarity breeds contempt.”
“Lifeless ponds contain stagnant water.” ​

> We have all heard these clichés and may have even repeated them.  Although they may be clichés the reason they have survived is that there is a grain of truth in them. 
> Many of us have preached against ritual in churches, yet while fundamentalists do not have actual rituals we follow in our churches, it may be true that we have allowed our church service format to become ritualistic with the “same ole, same ole” every time we meet till the saints not only know what to expect next, but go “ho hum” since they know exactly what is coming. 
> And while the phrase “vain repetition” is applied specifically to prayer in the Bible, may it not also be what we have allowed to happen (especially in our prayer  meetings, but in other services as well)?
 
💥As I am now traveling to many different churches I see a sameness and deadness and coldness which should not exist in our Bible-believing churches. 
💥It is my belief that churches should be the most lively and exciting places in town – for the believer.
💥It is the lively, Spirit-led and Spirit-filled churches which are experiencing the most growth.
💥I believe just as much preparation should be placed in the planning of our services as in the planning of our messages! 

The suggestions submitted below are simply for your prayerful consideration and are being sent to every preacher on my personal prayer list. 

These are simply general suggestions. It is my prayer and desire that these suggestions be given prayerful consideration and if the Holy Spirit doesn’t lead you to change anything, that is O.K.  In fact, if you feel led to just place them in “file 13” that is also O.K.
 
Since there is no “order of service” listed in the Bible we are free to decide how each service should be conducted. 
In fact it might be an interesting study to see just what was and was not done in the few church services given to us in Scripture.  

​(Perhaps one of the reasons the charismatic churches flourish is...
💦because they have some spontaneity in their services.)  
💦If we really want the Holy Spirit to have free course in our churches, perhaps we ought to seek His direction for every service.  
(Wouldn’t that be novel?!) 
💦Maybe instead of announcing the next hymn as the one printed in the bulletin or on the program for the leaders on the platform
(or on the wall on a plaque?!),
💦we simply allowed the Spirit to tell us what hymn would be appropriate for that service and at what place in the service. 
💦This is not to suggest that we abandon order in the services, only that the order of our services be Spirit-directed.
(Of course the preacher does exactly that in the preparation of his lesson or messages.
​Why not for the services?)

👉May I humbly submit some suggestions for your prayerful consideration?

1. At least once a month alter the order of the service.
   >Have baptism at the beginning of the service.
   >Have the Lord’s Supper at the beginning of the service. 
(These ordinances of the church should not  just be “tacked on” at the close of the service and rushed through because of time constraints.  Shouldn’t we give these God-ordained ordinances the prominence they deserve?)

2. Why not open the service with a special number instead of with the choir or an opening prayer? 

3. Why not leave the announcements until the close of the service – or eliminate them altogether if they are already printed in the bulletin? 

4. Or do as my present pastor (Guarneri) does and intersperses them in between verses of a hymn?
 
5. How about having just a service of praise and simply have a short devotional message to prepare the people for the praise time – and not just reserve this for our traditional Thanksgiving eve service?  This is practiced by some outstanding churches with fantastic results.

​(Look up all the praise passages in Scripture and notice how much God delights in our praise.)  This could be done monthly or quarterly or whenever the Holy Spirit is allowed to lead.  (I recently heard a message on this subject by Pastor Doug Fisher from the Lighthouse Baptist Church in Lemon Grove, CA and got under such conviction that I wanted to go back into the pastoral ministry and start all over again!)

6. Since our services are Bible centered – or should be – why not open with a Scripture reading which, though not necessarily the message text, contains the same theme or general subject? (I realize that this might require some thought and prior preparation on the pastor’s part.)
 
7. Why not eliminate the “pastoral prayer” altogether?  It is often a prayer simply offered to placate certain church members and often doesn’t rise above the ceiling.  There is an old maxim that may contain some truth which says “long in public, short in private;  long in private, short in public.” 
 
8. Our prayer meeting services definitely need a closer look,
>some heart preparation and
>some Spirit controlled direction
>instead of the lifeless format and “vain repetition” which takes place in many churches week after endless week throughout the year(s).   
 
     a. Instead of simply having a “quiet time” of prayer (where some folks pray and others just sit bored, or worse, engage in other activities - preacher, if you think this isn’t happening, take a peek sometime!), why not choose to vary weekly (not weakly) the format and have the pastor lead the  congregation in prayer?   He is  the shepherd of the sheep!
 
     b. Why not choose two or three
       ✅deacons, (male)     
       ✅Sunday School teachers,
         Your best
       ✅soul-winners or other
       ✅godly folks in the church to come to the pulpit to lead the congregation in prayer?
 
     c. Have the ushers hand out short lists of prayer requests to designated people as they come in and have them stand in the pew and lead in prayer.  The lists could be numbered so each person knows when it is their turn.   It is obvious that with the length of most prayer lists in our churches, not everyone will have the time to pray for every item, so by breaking down the lengthy list, most, if not all items would be covered.
 
     d. Break up into large groups (so no-one feels pressured to pray publicly) and ask for several people to lead in prayer.  (We often had the all the ladies go to one area, the men to another area and the teens to another area with appropriate leaders with them, e.g. the pastor, pastor’s wife and youth leader.)
 
     e. If you feel you must break up into groups, why not suggest groups of seven or so (once again so as not to put anyone “on the spot” – it is the Holy Spirit’s ministry to lead people to pray)?
 
     f. How about suggesting several men stand in their seats and pray aloud, leading the         congregation?  (These could either be chosen ahead of time or allowed to pray spontaneously.)
 
     g. While it may be reasonable to assume that if a prayer request is sufficiently urgent folks would have the sense to call the pastor or church office to have them included in the prayer bulletin, some needed items may need to be solicited from the congregation before going to prayer since it       may not have been possible for the folks to call in their request, or it may have recently come to       their attention.  I don’t deem it wise to make this a rule, since people should be disciplined enough to not simply offer “spur-of-the –moment” requests – including “unspoken requests.”
 
🔹I am now 85 years old and have been saved for over half a century, have been preaching for 57 years and have pastored for 43 of those years. I am not trying to get you to simply change your format and I am surely not attempting to dictate to you what you should or should not do, but I am asking you to prayerfully consider the above suggestions. These suggestions are not Fedena’s Commandments  but an honest attempt to help our Bible-believing churches to grow and manifest some life. My name is Paul, but I am not the apostle Paul! My pastoral ministry is over, but I believe what I have learned should be passed on to men like yourself.   These are not criticisms (unless you consider them positive or constructive criticisms).  

🔹I have seen what works and what doesn’t – what kills and what imparts life.  God wonderfully blessed our ministry, but it was in spite of me and not because of me. Most of what I have learned I learned by making mistakes until I got it right.  I am trying to pass on some information so you won’t have to repeat my mistakes.
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🔹You might say “Why doesn’t Fedena mind his own business?”  My reply is “I am trying to” – but if you don’t think any of this is my business consider your ministry “God’s business” and ask how to best conduct His business. If you misread my intentions, then simply toss this into the trash.
 
🔹If, like me, you want to see life, revival, and excitement in God’s work, ask the Lord to not only make you the best preacher, but the best pastor (shepherd) of His sheep. I believe that doesn’t just include our pulpit work, which should be our strong suit, but also our public ministry in what we have chosen to call “services.”  (It is more about “service” than about “services.”)
 
🔹I long to see revival in our churches.  I want to see some of the excitement that prevailed in the early church when God used men to “turn the world upside down;” when the most exciting event in town was what was going on down at the church house.
 
🔹I have been thinking about these things for some time and the Lord impressed on my heart, even before I arose from bed this morning, to write them down and pass them on to you.

Sincerely in the Savior,
Pastor (e) Paul C. Fedena
www.pastorpaulfedena.weebly.com
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