The Public Reading of Scripture

It may be one of the most disobeyed commands in Scripture: “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching” (1 Timothy 4:13). We do pretty well with the exhortation and teaching parts, but I’m concerned by how little attention we give to the public reading of Scripture.

Surprisingly, many mainline churches read Scripture more than evangelical ones. Their furniture highlights this priority: they devote a reading stand for this sole purpose. They f...