Choosing the Public Scripture Readings: Three Approaches

A few years ago, I visited a local Anglican church. As a Baptist, we tout ourselves as people of the Book; we are fiercely committed to Scripture. But as I observed this Anglican worship service, I realized that in one service, more Scripture was read aloud than I had heard in a year during my childhood in the Baptist church. The only text read aloud was the sermon text in the Baptist church I grew up, but these Anglicans were reading large chunks of Scripture each week. These Anglicans were obeying Christ’s command, whereas the churches I had grown up in which are committed to the Bible did not. This experience cemented in my mind the importance of the public reading of Scripture and its necessary inclusion in the worship service (1 Tim. 4:13).

If we are commanded to publicly read Scripture in the corporate worship service, this naturally leads to the question of what passages should be read? Pastors must answer this question when they incorporate public Scripture reading into the worship service. I will outline three different approaches to answering the question Read More