June 19, 2008
Powerless
At a week long conference in Steamboat Springs I was preparing to leave my room when the whole mountain village lost power. There are a lot of factors that kept me in the room. I was on the sixth floor, the meeting rooms down below were all windowless, as were the restrooms. Even if I took the stairs to get to the exhibit area there would be no air conditioning or Starbucks coffee. The good news was, I wasn’t stuck in an elevator and I had my battery powered laptop computer, minus use of the internet. The church today is all about being ‘plugged in’. I’ve got to tell you, every appliance in my room, from the coffee maker to the clock was plugged in…and they were all dead. It reminds me of some church programs trying to function without the Power of the Spirit.
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Gail;
-----What exactly makes a church “plugged in“ to the Spirit? And is that what is meant when a church purports to be plugged in? I don’t know what church leaders themselves mean when they speak of being “plugged in,” but the logical extension of what their actions show is they think the church is plugged in when they themselves are plugged in. I am sure they do not consciously entertain the idea that they are plug-in surrogates for the congregation, but their behavior shouts it through a megaphone. They will sing about how it is not about music and how sorry they are for what they have made of the heart of worship, yet the thought of worshipping through hymns they will not entertain. They have the Spirit, and therefore they must direct the worship of the congregation, for somehow the congregation has no ability to discern? The mega-church mind seems to be intimately bound to the mega-control aspiration. Rick Warren’s book even promoted the issuance of laminated certification cards when a person reached the level of “training” and “commitment” shared by those of the inner circle. Maybe the card was printed in the back room by the Spirit?
-----But truly, the church is nothing more than the gathering together of those who have the Spirit. Therefore, in as much as those who come together are plugged in, the church is plugged in. Certainly, the life in the Holy Spirit of the leaders impacts upon the life of the individuals of the congregation in the Spirit. But it is not a replacement, and must not be treated as such.
Love
Steve Corey
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