Report of TT2-2: David Holden - The Holy Spirit and your Church
- There is a flow in the topics between these three seminars
- It is essential that people in our churches are filled with the Spirit
- Sometimes people come because they like the worship
- The heart of what we are in churches is a gathering of individual people who are baptized in the Holy Spirit
- This is the doorway that opens the gifts of the Spirit
Introduction
- What is the function of the HS as we gather?
- Where do we get our ideas from? As much as possible the Holy Scriptures
- John 4:21 —a huge difference between the Old and New Covenants
- This is a radical new way of worshipping
- Our meetings have to be Spirit led and so there is spontaneity
- There is not a rigid structure for worship. We have moved from form to the unknown
- 1 Cor 14:26 “whenever you come together, each one has a...”
- 1 Cor 12 lists gifts of the Holy Spirit (I am concerned when there are no gifts being manifested)
- The HS has a massive role in our lives. We can’t do anything of any value without him
- Equally this is true in the corporate church—we cannot do anything without him
- If the HS was to leave the UK this week, there would be a lot of churches that wouldn’t notice the difference!
- I hope that in such a hypothetical case, our church would cease to be able to function
- Am I the only person who comes out of “good” meetings a bit concerned because of not much demonstration of the HS
- We don’t just meet to sing songs—we have an encounter with God
1. The Function of the Holy Spirit in our Meetings
- What is he doing? Three things
- To Glorify Jesus
- Not fundamentally “what can I get out of it”, but it is all about him
- Not about “What kind of week have you all had?” or how unworthy we are
- The HS wants to focus on Jesus and then the other stuff will be dealt with
- He comes to help us encounter God
- He is the living God and so he is to be encountered
- People try and help us to encounter him, but the HS is the best one to help us
- We need congregations who are full of expectation that things are going to happen
- People stop engaging because their expectations dial down
- Even those who don’t bring a contributions should still be “participating”
- The HS wants to help you engage with the living God
- (all our technology is not as important as we think it is)
- People are losing the plot as far as Charismatic worship is concerned
- It is not about having the meeting run well (but not deliberately not well!!)
- It is about glorifying Jesus and encountering God
- The HS wants to use the individuals in the church to build up the Body of Christ
- Not for our edification, but for our brothers and sisters
- Gifts of the Spirit are not an option. If the Bible teaches they are for our maturing, they are absolutely crucial
- 1 Cor 12:13-14
- Out of all the mess of Corinth comes good teaching for us
- Paul never ever dampens their zeal for the gifts. If anything he honours them and encourages them.
- All of these gifts are to be used in the corporate setting, for one another
- In fact, there is not so much of a role of a “worship leader” if everything is running as it should
- Chapter 13 is to remind us that we are not to bring contributions in a competitive manner, but here there was utter chaos.
- Love never uses gifts in competition. Love is the motivation.
- Chapter 14 is about how the gifts should work in the church
- If they were to visit our meetings, they might find them very strange
- Meetings were spontaneous—we don’t know what is going to happen next
- If meetings are boring, it is because they are predictable. Ask for more of the Holy Spirit
- the HS does not want to be boxed in or dominated by anybody
- The best worship leaders can bring something and then back off, because it is not about them
- The HS doesn’t like repetition, but creating new things all the time
- I am not saying “don’t plan”, but it is a plan submitted to the “unseen conductor”
- “Each one”
- There needs to be room for the public reading of Scripture. Sometimes meetings are so flaky.
- Sometimes it is the reading of the Word of God that can take us to a new level in the meeting
- We need to teach people that they are to come with an expectation that they can bring a contribution
- We need a reservoir of the filling of the HS and also with the Word which we meditate upon. We must teach people to work on these two reservoirs.
- Small groups are an excellent opportunity to work on this stuff
- Everyone has a contribution, but this doesn’t mean the same people every week!
- The gifts of the HS are then to be expected in our gatherings
- Tongues: 1 Cor 14:4,5 private and public tongues.
- The only gift of the HS that is self-edifying (BUT, prophecy is superior unless there is an interpretation.)
- Tongues is not praying, but it is God-directed. It is a bubbling over
- v.18 I thank God that I speak more than any of you, but in the church I would rather speak to instruct
- In my experience a tongue can seem to open the door to a lot of other contributions in a meeting
- We need to re-address the Charismatic issue
- Maybe we need a whole new Charismatic renewal!
1. Questions
- Doesn’t this just end in chaos?
- The HS one of order and he won’t lead us in this direction
- Often the issue is one of timing. We need to learn as a congregation how to flow in the Spirit.
- What about the size of the meeting?
- No problem—large meetings should have more contributions. This is very important.
- When you stop modelling contributions in the large meetings, they will soon be dialled-down in the small meetings
- Find practical ways to let the Spirit of God do it!
- What about unbelievers?
- Personally it is a big big mistake to dial it down when unbelievers are present.
- Did Jesus do this? —everything changes when Jesus shows up at a meeting
- The day of Pentecost: Peter said “This is that”. We need to simply explain what is happening
- It is Christians who are the ones who are uptight about the unbelievers being present
- Unbelievers will encounter the living God in our meetings
- What we should dial down it “Christianese language”, like “We have been covered by the blood”, or “cell group”
- We need to work hard on this.
- Sit next to them and explain it to them
- What about the “worship leader” role?
- They are people with contributions, in the same way that you do.
- The WL’s function is vital for only one reason—to help the congregation engage with God
- He doesn’t dominate or squash spontaneity
- We just need to get the balance right on this one. If you like they are the psalmists, bringing a contribution like anyone else
- Apart from that there is no mention of them in the NT.
- You don’t need 9 microphones out the front in a church with 100 people with the volume so high that you can’t hear the congregation
- What about when someone says “now lets all speak in tongues together”?
- This is inappropriate when there are unbelievers present since the Bible tells us they will think we are crazy
- This is quite appropriate when it is just Christians, since it stirs our spirits
- What about singing in the Spirit?
- It feels really good, but does that mean it is right?
- Does not necessarily mean in tongues—it is that we are all corporately singing to the Lord
- A wonderful experience at a wedding and an unbeliever said how wonderful it sounded
- If we are a Charismatic community is is not about being free, but having a deluge of HS activity.
Questions
- Should we teach regularly on this? —yes!
- The Holy Spirit can be involved in planning as well as the spontaneity
- Would you cancel a meeting if there were no elders present? —no, but there must be some kind of leadership
- How do you know there is going to be an interpretation, and what do you do if there is not one? —There is always the element of risk
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