A friend of mine asked recently, “I don’t want to substitute simple church with a mini-version of traditional church, but does that mean we should have no plan or only a back-up plan [when we gather for simple church]?
My Response:
I believe it’s all a balance. Having plans are good, but the Spirit must lead. It’s a balance you can literally feel in the intimacy of a living room. In another example, you’ve heard of the term rabbit trail. Two weeks ago in simple church, we started talking about our weekly reading (the plan). My sister-in-law started sharing about what the scripture meant to hear, and in her explaination something tiggered her memory about a dream she had earleir in the week (the Spirit). Melissa is a recovering drug addict, and in her dream she was using again. The content of the dream was so real she recalled actually feeling the high like her old days. This Spirit lead rabbit trail presented itself, and we as a group decided to lay hands on her and take authority over the darkness and spirit of addiction in her dreams. This action taught about several things: the real spiritual battle believers actually experience, the importantence of laying on hands, authority of believers, the power of prayer, the healing nature of Jesus Christ coming through us by way of compassion (there wasn’t a dry eye in the room as she shared her struggle).
I’ve walked away from many gatherings that really felt like a lifeless board meeting. The opportunites were there for us to discover what Spirit was doing, but we missed it for whatever reason. More than anything, we have to develop a nose or a sensitivity to the nudge of the Spirit. It’s been my experience that this is a gradual process, that I can have in whatever measure I go for it. So, let’s go for it!
