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The Open Church: How to Bring Back the Exciting Life of the 1st Century Church
The goal is to enable everyone to be a participant, not just a spectator. The chuch can quickly be restored to everyone because, contray to popular belief, laypersons are eager to share their hearts, take active roles in worship, and resume the work of God.
180 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1992
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 24, 2018
I first heard about the concept of cell church in the 1990's. I fell in love with the concept which seemed far closer to what I read in the New Testament than my experience of most church gatherings.
I was part of a team that started a cell church at the turn of the Century (love being able to use that phrase), but since returning home have found myself stuck in the same old model of closed church.
This book is from the 1990's and I can't believe it now seems out of print. Is there still a desire to have gatherings of believers that more closely resembles what the early church had? I believe there is.
I was saddened to find on searching for copies of the book to share with others that James Rutz has passed away. I look forward to meeting him on the new earth.
I was part of a team that started a cell church at the turn of the Century (love being able to use that phrase), but since returning home have found myself stuck in the same old model of closed church.
This book is from the 1990's and I can't believe it now seems out of print. Is there still a desire to have gatherings of believers that more closely resembles what the early church had? I believe there is.
I was saddened to find on searching for copies of the book to share with others that James Rutz has passed away. I look forward to meeting him on the new earth.
April 26, 2025
I didn’t know what to expect as I started reading this book, and I’m still not sure what to do with it.
This book throws a wrench into how we’ve been doing church for centuries. I’ve been thinking about church services for a while now, but The Open Church has put into writing what I’ve been wrestling with, so I don’t feel too crazy anymore.
The premise is this: If we use the New Testament as a guide to help us organize our Sunday gatherings, what will we come up with? Certainly not “30 minutes of singing led by a group of talented musicians, followed by 45 minutes of preaching from the same person virtually every week, while everyone else sits, listens quietly, then eats donuts and drinks coffee.”
Rutz is passionate about the priesthood of every believer, a doctrine he says was reintroduced in the Reformation, but only on paper. In practice, we still divide believers between the laypeople and clergy, leaving the edification on the Lord’s Day to trained professionals.
1 Corinthians 14:26-33: “What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. 28 If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God.
29 Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 30 And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. 31 For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. 32 The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. 33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace —as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.”
How can we read these verses and conclude “everyone should sit and listen to one man preach for an hour. That’s the Christian model of the ekklesia.” No!
Here are some notable quotes:
“Even though we acknowledge the common saying, 'Everyone has at least one sermon in him,' almost no one is ever encouraged or even allowed to deliver that one sermon. This practice is a horrendous exercise in quenching the Spirit. It frosts me that the 'one sermon' in the heart of a faithful dentist or truck driver or engineer should forever be deemed less worthwhile than all two thousand of the lifetime sermons of an M.Div." - James H. Rutz | The Open Church
"Odds are, God has given a handful of people in your church a gift for counseling. But odds are, that gift will never be developed to a pastoral level. The pastor will continue to be your church's counselor of first and last resort. (Question: How can he 'equip the saints for the work of the ministry' when he holds a monopoly on doing so much of that work?)" - James H. Rutz | The Open Church
"We absolutely must let each believer take full part in the heart of congregational life by speaking words of his own." - James H. Rutz | The Open Church
"If all the admiration in your church is always focused on your pastor, you've got a sick state of affairs." - James H. Rutz | The Open Church
"If Mike and Mary Lunchbucket can sit in your church for sixty years and never have anyone come up to them and say, 'I really appreciated what you said in church today,' you're creating spiritual midgets. You're starving them to death in the pews. You're stomping on their hands as they grasp for a tiny shred of their share in the spiritual life of the congregation." - James H. Rutz | The Open Church
"In any fair-sized, pastor-centered church, you'll find an elaborate program revolving around one highly-trained, overworked man." - James H. Rutz | The Open Church
"The pastor suffers, too. He's only one person, and when you make him ultimately responsible for all your programs and goals, you overload an extremely valuable servant of the Lord and diffuse his talents into a sieve. The reason he went to seminary was to learn to guide a spiritual steam roller, not push it. (And definitely not carry it!)" - James H. Rutz | The Open Church
"I suppose 'pastor' is a nice, warm title. But do absolve him of the responsibility for all the administrative and procedural flotsam floating around your church. Relieve him of the sole responsibility for the success of everything in sight: the men's golf fellowship, the new building fund, the choir retreat, hospital visitation, vacation Bible school, the stewardship committee, the works. Tell him you only expect one thing of him: to turn everybody into a spiritual giant. Or at least a spiritual Hulk Hogan." - James H. Rutz | The Open Church
"Think for a moment about the broad sexual connotations of standing up and speaking and leading the church. Is that the sort of thing you'd associate more with masculinity or femininity? Then think about the connotations of sitting, listening passively, and being led. Is that more compatible with maleness or femaleness? There, in a nutshell, is why today's church attracts more women than men." - James H. Rutz | The Open Church
"Paul comments that 'it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church' and to teach men. I suspect the main reason he was so extreme on that point is that it kind of puts men in the posture of women. Tragically, we today have put men in the posture of women-not by placing women over them, but by placing other men over them in debilitating ways. With the same net effect!" - James H. Rutz | The Open Church
"You don't produce 'real men' by making them sit in rows and listen for seventy years. You do it by making them stand up and boldly proclaim what's in their hearts and in the Word." - James H. Rutz | The Open Church
This book throws a wrench into how we’ve been doing church for centuries. I’ve been thinking about church services for a while now, but The Open Church has put into writing what I’ve been wrestling with, so I don’t feel too crazy anymore.
The premise is this: If we use the New Testament as a guide to help us organize our Sunday gatherings, what will we come up with? Certainly not “30 minutes of singing led by a group of talented musicians, followed by 45 minutes of preaching from the same person virtually every week, while everyone else sits, listens quietly, then eats donuts and drinks coffee.”
Rutz is passionate about the priesthood of every believer, a doctrine he says was reintroduced in the Reformation, but only on paper. In practice, we still divide believers between the laypeople and clergy, leaving the edification on the Lord’s Day to trained professionals.
1 Corinthians 14:26-33: “What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. 28 If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God.
29 Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 30 And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. 31 For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. 32 The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. 33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace —as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.”
How can we read these verses and conclude “everyone should sit and listen to one man preach for an hour. That’s the Christian model of the ekklesia.” No!
Here are some notable quotes:
“Even though we acknowledge the common saying, 'Everyone has at least one sermon in him,' almost no one is ever encouraged or even allowed to deliver that one sermon. This practice is a horrendous exercise in quenching the Spirit. It frosts me that the 'one sermon' in the heart of a faithful dentist or truck driver or engineer should forever be deemed less worthwhile than all two thousand of the lifetime sermons of an M.Div." - James H. Rutz | The Open Church
"Odds are, God has given a handful of people in your church a gift for counseling. But odds are, that gift will never be developed to a pastoral level. The pastor will continue to be your church's counselor of first and last resort. (Question: How can he 'equip the saints for the work of the ministry' when he holds a monopoly on doing so much of that work?)" - James H. Rutz | The Open Church
"We absolutely must let each believer take full part in the heart of congregational life by speaking words of his own." - James H. Rutz | The Open Church
"If all the admiration in your church is always focused on your pastor, you've got a sick state of affairs." - James H. Rutz | The Open Church
"If Mike and Mary Lunchbucket can sit in your church for sixty years and never have anyone come up to them and say, 'I really appreciated what you said in church today,' you're creating spiritual midgets. You're starving them to death in the pews. You're stomping on their hands as they grasp for a tiny shred of their share in the spiritual life of the congregation." - James H. Rutz | The Open Church
"In any fair-sized, pastor-centered church, you'll find an elaborate program revolving around one highly-trained, overworked man." - James H. Rutz | The Open Church
"The pastor suffers, too. He's only one person, and when you make him ultimately responsible for all your programs and goals, you overload an extremely valuable servant of the Lord and diffuse his talents into a sieve. The reason he went to seminary was to learn to guide a spiritual steam roller, not push it. (And definitely not carry it!)" - James H. Rutz | The Open Church
"I suppose 'pastor' is a nice, warm title. But do absolve him of the responsibility for all the administrative and procedural flotsam floating around your church. Relieve him of the sole responsibility for the success of everything in sight: the men's golf fellowship, the new building fund, the choir retreat, hospital visitation, vacation Bible school, the stewardship committee, the works. Tell him you only expect one thing of him: to turn everybody into a spiritual giant. Or at least a spiritual Hulk Hogan." - James H. Rutz | The Open Church
"Think for a moment about the broad sexual connotations of standing up and speaking and leading the church. Is that the sort of thing you'd associate more with masculinity or femininity? Then think about the connotations of sitting, listening passively, and being led. Is that more compatible with maleness or femaleness? There, in a nutshell, is why today's church attracts more women than men." - James H. Rutz | The Open Church
"Paul comments that 'it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church' and to teach men. I suspect the main reason he was so extreme on that point is that it kind of puts men in the posture of women. Tragically, we today have put men in the posture of women-not by placing women over them, but by placing other men over them in debilitating ways. With the same net effect!" - James H. Rutz | The Open Church
"You don't produce 'real men' by making them sit in rows and listen for seventy years. You do it by making them stand up and boldly proclaim what's in their hearts and in the Word." - James H. Rutz | The Open Church
May 27, 2018
I think this is an important book that anyone affiliated with an institutionalized "church" should read. It is especially useful for pastors and laymen who desire to see the body of Christ become active participants in God's purposes, instead of passive pew sitting spectators to a Sunday morning "show".
Rutz's historical background information is all very informative and his insights are keen. The only negative thing I would have toward this book is that I am not a fan of the author's irreverant and often times sarcastic style of prose. This, admittedly, is simply a personal preference.
The bottom line is this book is WELL WORTH reading!
Rutz's historical background information is all very informative and his insights are keen. The only negative thing I would have toward this book is that I am not a fan of the author's irreverant and often times sarcastic style of prose. This, admittedly, is simply a personal preference.
The bottom line is this book is WELL WORTH reading!
May 24, 2024
If the advice in this book were followed, we would have more mature believers, less stressed staff, and more actual spiritual impact. Boldly Scriptural approach to how church can (and should !) be changed to impact the world for Jesus.
March 10, 2017
This book will open your eyes to what the church could really look like and what I believe was God's intent from the begin. It changed the way I do "church" today.
December 1, 2018
DNF - the half I read was probably 2 or 3 out of five ... But it just kept saying the same thing again and again so I skimmed to the end
April 25, 2010
Excellent read on all of man's traditions that have been brought to church that affects The Church's ability to function. One of several that talks about the failings of Sunday school to our children. This is similar to a church I attened while living in North Carolina. If you want something new in your church this will show you the way...
April 20, 2012
Have read this book several times. It is amazing what lead to things becoming traditional in our churches. Has nothing to do with the Word of God! Made me stop and ask God to clear my mind and heart to be able to see and discern His will in everything! A must read!
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews