Rutz offers us a plan that would finish the job Luther began. He calls for the church to transfer responsibility for the church service to the laity. No pews, just chairs arranged in a square. No pastor, not even a moderator, would be in charge. He gives practical advice to avoid chaos.
Someone shouts the number of a hymn, and all join in to sing.
During sharing time members stand and share concerns, spiritual insights, pray for each other, and perhaps someone delivers a message. Rutz claims that this is a return to the first century, a return that Luther failed to make. Rutz fails to see that the purpose of the Reformation was not institutional renewal, or even the delegation of church functions to laymen, but the recovery of the gospel. These goals are easy to confuse. In many cases, the only way to communicate the gospel more clearly was to alter church practice.