Articles
Asking for Announcements
Asking for Announcements
By Paul R. Blake
(I received the following question by email from a brother in Alabama) “We have our announcements at the end of worship before the closing prayer. We ask if anyone has any announcements. Occasionally some sister will speak up or one of us will ask a sister about a family member. Does that matter?”
Good Brother, that is a question that comes up often. I have heard it in nearly every congregation I have worked with over the years and have heard it from places I have visited in Gospel meetings. Consider the relevant text: 1Corinthians 14:34-35 - "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."
When apostle Paul wrote of women speaking in church, the context implies that it was more than just requesting prayers for someone during announcements. The problem he was addressing was that of women actively participating in the services by offering instruction or by questioning the instruction of the preachers and elders. This was certainly not in keeping with the spirit of humility and subjection he taught women in 1Corinthians 11:1-16. I do not imagine that they had their worship services organized in a twenty-first century manner. I don't see Paul ending the services with “Does anyone have an announcement that was overlooked? If not, please stand while brother Barnabas leads the closing prayer.” Paul's concern was for women speaking out in worship to teach or question or exert her will, thus failing to show subjection and humility to all present.
Having said that, I am by no means suggesting that women speaking during announcements is an acceptable practice today. However our worship services may be organized, if the announcements are considered part of it, then women should not speak at that time. We make the announcements at the beginning of services before prayers so that brethren can petition for those announced as ill. We begin with announcements, and it is clear that when the brother welcomes everyone to worship, the assembled church has now begun its worship service. Therefore, if a woman speaks up during announcements, she has spoken in church. Your announcements come near the end before the closing prayer. It is understood that the assembly for worship has not come to an end until after the prayer; therefore, the announcements are part of the assembly for worship. Women should not be speaking.
It has been argued that women speaking up during announcements is an incidental practice that does not violate the spirit of the law Paul was inspired to teach regarding subjection of women. At best, it could be said that this is an argument that should be considered briefly; but, then it should be discarded for the following reasons: 1) it is risky to build a case for overlooking a clear command in favor of human reasoning, and 2) such nuances of reasoning often escape the young in faith and the weak in understanding. And as we are to protect them and accommodate their tender consciences, I believe that permitting women to speak during announcements should always be discouraged for that purpose. I would gently admonish the sisters who speak up, and I would sternly admonish the brethren who permit it.
The solution to this matter is to arrive at services early enough to collect all of the announcements, thus avoiding the apparent need to ask for announcements. If the brother who is to make announcements will not arrive in time to do that, then the role of making announcements should be given to someone who will. We had a long term practice at TR. The brethren who made announcements were instructed by the elders to not ask, “Does anyone have an announcement that needs to be made?” both at the beginning of services and when the services close. In addition, we instructed the congregation to give their announcements to the deacon who collects them at the beginning of services, because we will not ask for them during services. In my experience, asking for announcements opens the congregation up for embarrassment and potential problems when denominational visitors decide to speak up and ask for prayers for their bake sale, teen retreat, food drive, or softball team. All the questions about women and visitors making announcements can be preemptively solved by not asking for or allowing announcements to be spontaneously offered during services.
There are multiple means available to us to see to it that important overlooked announcements are made without asking for them to be impulsively offered by anyone in the audience. It is well past the time when we should drop the habit of asking: “Are there any other announcements?”
Food for Thought
YOU ARE BRAVE when you overcome your fear and help others to do the same.
YOU ARE HAPPY when you see a flower and are thankful for the blessing.
YOU ARE LOVING when your own pain does not blind you to the pain of others.
YOU ARE WISE when you know the limits of your wisdom.
YOU ARE TRUTHFUL when you admit there are times you fool yourself.
YOU ARE ALIVE when tomorrow's hope means more to you than yesterday's mistake.
YOU ARE STRONG when you take your grief and teach it to smile.
YOU ARE GROWING when you know who you are and look forward to who you will become.
YOU ARE FREE when you are in control of yourself and do not wish to control others.
YOU ARE HONORABLE when you give the other person the benefit of the doubt.
YOU ARE GENEROUS when you give from your scarcity and not from your abundance.
YOU ARE HUMBLE when you are not controlled by human respect.
YOU ARE THOUGHTFUL when you offer a helping hand when others are too embarrassed to ask.
YOU ARE MERCIFUL when you don't mention past mistakes, even though you were hurt by them.
YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL when you don't need a mirror to tell you.
YOU ARE RICH when you do not need more than what you have.
YOU ARE YOU when you don't need to be anybody else. (Joyful Reflections with Scott Seethaler)
The Welfare State
"For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies" (2Thes. 3:10-11).
You can't maintain a civilization with 12-year-olds having babies, and 15-year-olds killing each other, and 17-year-olds dying of AIDS, and 18-year-olds getting diplomas they can't read. The welfare state has just plain failed, and it's failed because it reduces human beings from citizens to clients, because it subjects them to rules that are anti-family, anti-work, anti-property and anti-opportunity. The challenge of our generation is to replace the welfare state. (From Newt Gingrich, November 10, 1993, news conference, Wallstreet Journal, 12-17-93, p. A14)
Paul said, "...That you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you" (1Thes. 4:11).
Upcoming Sermons
9/29/24 AM - “For Ye are the Light of the World”; PM - Guest Speaker: Doug Sanders - Miracles of Jesus
10/6/24 AM - Owen Hamlet; PM - Themed Worship in Song: The Lord is My Shepherd
10/13/24 AM - Seeking for God or Sought for by God?; PM - Wearing Elijah’s Mantle
10/20/24 AM - I Might Be Mistaken; PM - “Watchman, Tell Us of the Night”
10/27/24 AM - Confessing that We are Pilgrims; PM - Reluctant Servants of the Lord
