May 2020
How to Develop Fellowships of the Spirit
What would an ideal fellowship of the Spirit look like? Start with informal fellowships. It might be three couples dining out and sharing what God is doing in their lives. It might be four friends at a coffee shop talking about a new faith insight one of them had. It might be a Christian caregiver …
Can You Tell How Well the Spirit Is Working in Your Congregation?
Classical theology has much to say about the means by which the Gospel is conveyed to those who need to hear it. Martin Luther listed these five means of grace: the Word, Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, Confession of Sins, and Mutual Encouragement of the Brethren. Consider those to be input through which the Holy Spirit …
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Fellowships of Kindred Temperaments
A keen insight recently from psychology is that people have differing personal spiritual temperaments. Recognizing these differences opens up more valuable ministry opportunities. A spiritual temperament is the way each of us personally relates to God best and most naturally. Spiritual temperaments influence where and how we most often sense God speaking to us, refreshing …
Learning What a Congregation Values
When I was teaching Organizational Behavior, I used a scheme that focused on how a worker learns expectations for his or her role contributes to the work of that organization. A role is the set of expectations for what the worker will say and do while on the job, like what an actor says and …
Is Your Church Running on Almost Empty?
The three biblical symbols for the Spirit at work are the dove that sat on Jesus’ shoulder at his baptism, and the tongues of fire and rushing wind at Pentecost. Jesus described the wind as unpredictable. Consider the following interpretation of what those symbols represented. The tongues of fire suggest energy, the kind associated with …
Evangelical vs Legalistic Church Practices
Zion was the first Lutheran church in Cleveland, founded in 1848 to serve the German immigrants in industrial Cleveland. It turned into the Lutheran megachurch of its time, with a sanctuary that seats 1,200. That building remains in use on East 30th, although attendance now averages about twenty. I drive by it frequently. Endowments have …
Of Two Biblical Words for Worship, Christians Used Only One
The two words in Greek are proskuneō, which is used fifty-five times, and sebō, which is used fourteen times. We have a clue to which one should be used by Christians today in recognizing which biblical writer used each. Almost all of the thirteen uses of sebō are in Luke’s Gospel and Acts. Almost all …
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They Were “Full of the Holy Spirit” and An Emotion
Luke uses a unique phrase in his Gospel and Book of Acts. Eleven different times he describes a follower of God as “full of the Holy Spirit” combined with something else, best understood as an emotion. One of the ways to recognize the Holy Spirit at work today is in a follower of Christ who …
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I Will Not Leave You as Orphans
On the evening we call Maundy Thursday, as told by John, Jesus gathered his eleven disciples around a table, perhaps like your dining room table with all the extensions inserted. Judas had left. With those who remained Jesus had a long, meandering discussion about what was going to soon happen. Our church has celebrated the …
See Your Congregation as the Top Soil for the Spirit’s Work
The job of church leaders, according to the Apostle Peter, is to faithfully administer the various forms of God’s gifts to serve others (1 Peter 4:10). The practicalities of administering such gifts are very challenging. The hardest part is finding enough jobs for everybody in their shared congregational life. Ironically, traditional church leaders complain they …
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Church Networks are Replacing Church Denominations
Mainline church denominations are shrinking away. Understanding why is important. But the bigger issue is what to do about turning around that trend. Part of the solution is to recognize how and why church networks are replacing church denominations. Networks are loose affiliations of churches with shared interests and common church cultures. Denominations are churches …
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How Well Does Your Church Culture Allow The Spirit to Work?
Paul relayed to the Corinthians his encouragement that “Everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way” (1 Corinthians 14: 40). He said this after describing the truly chaotic worship going on in one of the house churches. Participants got up and talked whenever they wanted and many of them expressed themselves in strange …
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Primary Fellowships and Secondary Church Organizations
Several dozen women from our congregation participate in the Women’s Bible Study Fellowship meeting weekly at a nearby larger community church. I have heard some striking stories of lives changed through involvement in these small groups. Some congregations might resist such involvement beyond our congregation. I applaud it. Consider such Bible-focused groups to be primary …
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How Do You Organize a Spiritual Fellowship?
When I was teaching the Doctor of Ministry course on Church Management, a pastor-student for his course project chose to plan a fundraising program for his congregation. He was disappointed and even angry when I gave him a low grade. He had written out an elaborate scheme of boxes representing committees and job descriptions. It …
Benefits of a Fellowship of the Spirit
A member of our congregation, Jeff, began his fight with cancer almost four years ago. He started to write a diary of his reactions at various stages, posting them on a website. He writes: “I am not sure that I am in the eye of the storm now and will see the storm winds of …
What Makes Church Fellowship Spiritual?
The practice of infant baptism shapes much of the church fellowship experienced in traditional mainline churches. We are not taught how to look for and recognize the work of the Holy Spirit within us. We have had the experience but missed its meaning, to quote the poet T. S. Eliot. Most American Evangelical churches stress …
God’s Word Works Best Through Fellowships
Somewhere there may be someone who read the Bible one day and came to saving faith all by themselves. But that is not the way it works for most of us. We read and hear God’s Word through filters set by relationships with others around us. It’s from other believers that we learn what the …
What’s Involved in “Raising a Believer”?
Barn-raising was a community event in rural areas. It still is among the Amish. Timbers for the side walls were assembled on the ground and hoisted up into place by teams pulling on ropes from one side and pushing with poles on the other. Take barn-raising as a spiritual metaphor for helping a believer grow …
It Takes a Fellowship to Raise a Believer
Reference to the African proverb is intentional: It Takes a Village to Raise a Child. Exposure to the insights and experiences of many adults enriches the setting in which children learn about themselves and the world around them. It also multiplies the number of “eyes” watching and encouraging the good behavior of the child. But …