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?
"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?
posted by emily at 10:23 AM
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