It's been a long time since I finished reading through A Better Way, but seeing as I still have a fair number of stickie-tabs marking off various pages of the book, I figured that it was about time to start discussing it.
The general framework of a worship service in the CanRC generally consists of one service per Sunday expounding directly upon some Biblical passage, as well as one "teaching" service dealing with some portion of the three forms of (dis)unity. One thing that I've had pounded into my head in some of the TA-teaching courses that I've taken, and heard reported by a fair number of education students is that a pure-lecture style of teaching is one in which students are likely to learn the least. Some churches I've heard have attempted to deal with this by having perhaps one quite formal service but then another less formal service in which there is some degree of questions allowed, or interactivity.
Michael Horton, while not quite suggesting this, offers a fairly similar suggestions in his section of ideas at the end of the book:
Word-centered innovation. At Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, associate pastor Richard Phillips introduced a question-and-answer box and answered one of the questions just before the beginning of the evening service. This is a type of innovation that is quite useful. God does command teaching to take place in worship, and this parenthesis in the service is part of the ministry of the Word. Although Pastor Phillips did not do so, this could even serve as an opportunity for the pastor to walk among the cnogregation, providing a stark contrast between this type of teaching and the preaching that occurs when he mounts the pulpit. (Horton, A Better Way, p. 232)
Sounds to me like not a bad idea, although I suppose that podcasts and blogs can also play a similar role.
(This post was sparked by a comment about much Reformed preaching being basically "a modern lecture hall with hymns and a collection" - a post which I arrived at through gullchasedship's blog)
