I noticed that in 1 Corinthians 14 they had several "prophets" speaking during a worship service, whereas today we usually have only one speaker. Back then it seems to have been more of an open forum of scripture sharing -- a kind of "prophesying" -- while today things are more structured. Are we in sin/error by not following their example of worship? -- Justin
Yes, church "services" in the first century do seem to have been more participatory, at least in Corinth. Interestingly, the N.T. does not even teach that there was necessarily to be a "sermon" -- the heart of the Protestant "worship service."
I personally like sermons; I mention this only to add to your observation. We may be even farther from the New-Testament-style service than we think. While many writers advocate a more "open" sort of worship, I have my reservations -- and for the same reason that Paul was bothered by the way things were going in Corinth.
God is a God of order, yet in their meetings it seems chaos was becoming normative! While I do think we are probably off the mark, I would hesitate to call this sin.
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