The Entanglement of "Organization"

"The history of the Church is full of examples of those who have been caught in the entanglement of "organization" to the injury of their own spiritual life, or service."

"For example, a worker receives the Baptism [guidance] of the Spirit. God pours out blessings on souls. Meetings are crowded. God mightily works. "Machinery" then becomes necessary to "conserve the results of the blessing," and before long the Spirit-filled worker is compelled to carry on this or that work because he is committed to do so. He becomes circumstantially bound, and is no longer free to follow the leading of the Spirit."

"The Divine tide of life then slowly recedes, and finally the worker goes on, content - or not, as the case may be - with the outward and visible form of the work in his hands. This is the story of thousands of Spirit baptized servants of God who began work in the Spirit, but failed to understand how to continue in the Spirit to the end." (Evan Roberts)


How many people get burned out in the church because they feel like they can't abandon their part of the ministry? They are stuck in a ministry because there isn't anyone else to do it. Maybe we need to re-evaluate where God is leading once we find ourselves in that position. Perhaps He is leading us in a new and different way. I would hate to miss the Spirit's leading because I'm too focused on the way it's always been and the way things have worked before.


"It is also the duty of the workers in charge of any organized work to see that the spiritual life of their helpers is not sacrificed to the "work," by having so much to do in the organizational part of the Lord's service that their spiritual life has no opportunity of development or expression..." (Evan Roberts)


Hmm... How does this fit in with the role of the Church? Have we sacrificed too much of the lives of the workers (for the good of unbelievers) that it's becoming detrimental to our Church body and as a result, the Church's service to others?

More Thoughts on Church

How do we find the balance between going to church to worship God and going to have some of our own needs met? Do we look for a church that fits *our* needs and go and worship there? Or do we just need to commit to a church, worship there, and *then* find ways to have our needs met? And what if that church can't or doesn't meet our needs. Do we stay there anyway and worship God (and pray our needs will be met somehow)? Or do we start worshipping at another church and hope that one will meet our needs?

I don't want to be a person that hops from church to church. And I believe that it's possible to worship God in any church - even if you totally disagree with their theology and you don't get along with the people. It's a lot harder if you have those things to distract you. But I think worship is a choice to put everything else aside and focus on God. That can be done anywhere.

So, how do you pick a church? How do you balance your own needs? And how do you decide if you should switch churches? Or if you should commit yourself to a church body for the long haul - regardless of the current circomstance?

Church

Sometimes I wonder why I go to church. Is it simply for the social interaction? Is it to learn about God? Or do I go to worship God? I wish I could say that most Sundays I go to church in order to worship God. But I'm afraid the truth is that I usually go for the social interaction with hopes of learning something more about God and being able to worship Him. Often I walk away with little more than saying hello to a friend or two. Yet I desire to be there and long for more.

I felt a bit convicted while reading the other day. "God does not exist for the sake of the church; rather, the church exists for the praise and glory of God... This point will fundamentally change the way we think about church. We will think of the worship service, for example, less and less in terms of what it does for us, and more and more as an opportunity for us to glorify, praise, and worship God. We will consider the ministries of the church less and less as a means of meeting our needs, and more and more as opportunities to serve others as disciples and servants of Jesus Christ." (Michael. W. Holmes, The NIV App. Commentary: 1 & 2 Thes.)

How often I forget that church isn't about me. It's about God. It's about worshipping. Its taking the time to draw near to God. Its loving God by serving others. And during that attempt to worship God in our clumsy fallen way we find that God draws near to us as well and fills us with his love.