Bible Discussion Thread

Expressing the Spirit of God..true fellowship of the saints.

Perhaps some of the reason I am exploring this subject in depth is because I am convinced that it is never the fault of the Lord if a church is lukewarm; or someone isn't having a transformative experience. I am also learning as I go; asking myself questions.

Avoiding superficial emotionalism on one hand doesn't mean that church should not be a life changing event or "experiental". We have to think on terms that are foreign to our natural minds; as covered in my earlier posting even Paul wasn't apparently the most elegant speaker. This is usually the polar opposite of what we see today; where everyone's quaff is well polished; along with their verbage; organization; methodology; etc. To give everyone what they need and not just what they want means we can't make church primarily a numbers game or popularity contest. That is probably why I despise taking a survey of the number of attendees (thankfully hasn't been an issue in my last couple churches).

I am not sure how much further I want to explore this theme with specific scenarios; we see music leaders; youth pastors and the general layperson as modes of operation not spiritual rankings higher to lower. In fact; I will be bold enough to say that if a Pastor doesn't find at least one or two in their midst that CLEARLY have an unction or gifting that is more developed in some area than they have then in that case they SHOULD pray for more individuals to attend until there is someone out there who they can learn from and be sufficient to advise them. There are some churches where congregants simply don't bother to ASK if they can start a prayer group; Bible study or some other activity and only have themselves to blame if something is lacking-other places have certain rules; and we need Godly wisdom to determine if it is His will to submit or find a place less restrictive if it is clear the Lord is being choked out. Everyone is needed.