In a spectator sport, professional athletes compete on the playing field to entertain the gathered crowds. A modern church “worship service” is also a spectator sport. The congregation is allowed to watch and cheer, but never to go out on the field and play ball themselves.
First-century church meetings were not a spectator sport. They were about participation, not performance. Any member could contribute verbally to the proceedings. The prime directive was that everything said had to be edifying, encouraging, equipping, or motivational. The leaders were more like side-line coaches rather than star players in this phase of the gathering.
Presbyterian Commentator William Barclay: “The really notable thing about an early Church service must have been that almost everyone came feeling that he had both the privilege and obligation of contributing something to it.”[1]