Sometimes it’s expressed in almost fearful sentiments: we’re not attracting or keeping young people, we’re losing the cultural war, or we know it’s not working but we don’t know how to fix it. Sometimes there’s a foreboding sense of desperation: if we don’t do something quick we’re not going to be here much longer. Sometimes it’s less pronounced with a quiet acknowledgement that the next decade will bring difficult change to an already aging congregation.
I’m encouraged by this sense of restlessness that I’m witnessing across our body. I’m praying and hoping that the Spirit of God is at work to stir us up in the right kind of ways. We need stirred. We need revived. We need to get to the point where we’re “sick and tired of being sick and tired”. True repentance, real change, and genuine transformation won’t take place until we reach the point where we just can no longer accept the status quo and continue going through the motions.
We need a move of God’s Spirit. Fear by itself won’t bring change and new life. Restlessness by itself will not bring Holy transformation. In John 3:5-8, in His conversation with Nicodemus, we find that Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
I’ve sat across the table from church leaders who are restless, to the point that they invite someone like myself in with hopes that I can deliver the silver bullet, magic pill or perfect program to correct their current course. Here’s the hard truth: I don’t have the silver bullet or magic pill or perfect program. I can’t initiate the kind of change they need, only the Holy Spirit can do that. I can’t make this happen, they need the Spirit to work in a seriously profound way.
So these days I’m praying that the Spirit of God would continue to blow through our collective church body to stir us up, to make us restless and to bring new life to these dry bones so that we might play a role in God’s great mission in this world. I’m praying that the Holy Spirit stirs us up, agitates us to the point that we might reach the point of desperation that a Pharisee like Nicodemus reached to risk seeking out Jesus in the middle of the night. I’m hoping that this growing sense of discontentment and uncertainty wouldn’t be wasted, that the Spirit would use our restlessness to bring new life, transformation and renewal throughout the CGGC.
Jesus is advancing His mission here on earth and the gates of hell won’t prevail. I want to be a part of what He’s doing in this world. I don’t think we want to miss what He’s doing.
Would you join me in praying that Holy Spirit would continue to agitate us and make us restless enough to leave what we’ve known to embrace what He’s doing now? I think the wind of the Holy Spirit is blowing. I’m praying that the wind of the Holy Spirit would continue to blow in order to challenge us and change us.
How are you going to respond to the Spirit’s blowing in the wind? How are you going to position yourself to receive and respond to what the Holy Spirit is starting to do in our midst?
Christ’s Peace,
Lance