September 2023 featured Article

Not in My Church!

“You can do everything that you do in your church without the Holy Spirit.”

The words from the presenter at the training pierced the room. More than that, they frustrated me. No, they angered me.

“What kind of heretic is this man?” I thought to myself.

And then he said it again. “You can do everything that you do in your church without the Holy Spirit.”

Just as I prepared to throw proverbial tomatoes at him and storm out of the room in protest, my anger and frustration softened into a sudden pause. This reflective moment almost startled me, and as the dots began to connect in my mind and in my spirit, he finally delivered the punchline.

“But you can’t see lives changed without the Holy Spirit. Nothing you do will ever have power without the Holy Spirit.”

In that moment, my mind was flooded with pictures of all the things that I do every day and every week as a pastor. Images of our church’s routine of weekly ministry — the meetings, the worship services, the small groups, and, yes, even the discipleship groups — were like flashcards scrolling through my imagination.

“How much of what I do — of what we do — is really happening without the Holy Spirit?” I asked myself, terrified of the answer.

Because he was right. I can preach sermons without the Holy Spirit. I can lead discipleship groups without the Holy Spirit. I can sing songs and lift my hands and pray without the Holy Spirit. But if that’s what I do, or attempt to do, none of it is real. None of it has power. None of it will change my life or multiply out to those around me to change theirs.

I was reminded of this a few weeks ago when an especially strong line of summer thunderstorms swept through my neighborhood. Those are common this time of year, but on this day they were especially strong. One blinding flash of lightning and a loud clap of thunder later, and the power at my house was suddenly gone.

Before the lightbulbs in my house had time to lose all their heat and illumination, the sound of all three of my children’s feet stampeding down the hallway to my room prepared me for the panic that was about to ensue.

“What are we supposed to do now?!” asked the technology-addicted rugrats.

“My internet stopped working!” said one.

“My TV won’t work!” said another.

My response perplexed them. “You’ll find something to do. You’ll be a kid. You’ll figure it out,” I said.

In that moment, my kids were experiencing this very same phenomenon that I did in the training. They were in the same house they’ve always been in. And they could sit on the couch and look at the TV. They could hold their tablet and touch the screen. They could put food in the microwave and close the door and push the right buttons. But without power, nothing was going to work. Nothing would be the same.

I wonder how many of us — if we’re honest — are in the house and pressing all the right buttons, but nothing is really working.

In Acts 1:8, Jesus said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The result of Holy Spirit power is multiplication – ends of the earth multiplication!

As we move forward together as a family of churches, a critical first step is to honestly evaluate everything we are doing and ask why.

Why do we have this tradition?

Why do we have this ministry?

Why do we have this structure or process?

Why do we do it the way we do it?

And if the answers are personal preference, tradition, or our own creativity, but void of the Holy Spirit and His direction, just shut the doors and turn off the lights because there won’t be any power there anyway. But if we find where the Holy Spirit is leading and we listen, discern, and follow that — and only that — then we all better get ready. Because it will have power like we have never seen before. A multiplication power that will propel us to the ends of the earth!

My prayer for you, for me, for our churches, and for our entire family of churches is that the Holy Spirit will show us clearer than ever before what He wants, and that His power will be so evident to us that the next time I hear that phrase, “You can do everything that you do in your church without the Holy Spirit,” it won’t be frustrating or angering.

Because the response will honestly be, “Not in my church you can’t. Not in our churches you can’t!”