Recall the two-sided coin with the cross on one side and a dove on the other, discussed several blogs ago (Look on the Other Side of the Coin). The coin represents God’s presence in our lives. At times Paul focuses on Christ crucified, who changes our fundamental relationship with God. We become different people “in Christ.” But he focuses much more on the dove, a symbol of the Spirit by whom we are empowered.
The same two-sided thinking holds true with his description of congregations. A church is the body of Christ, which leaders are to build up (Eph. 4: 12). But a church is also a fellowship of the Holy Spirit, a koinonia of shared relationships. Paul’s ministry goal was to increase the sharing going on within congregations. Doing so was very clearly the job of the Holy Spirit at work among them.
Declining Christian congregations whose fellowships are falling apart would do well to look on the other side of the coin, to look for the Spirit and his empowering presence among them.
The roles of the three persons in the triune God were distinct to Paul. “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor 13: 14). The love of the Father is expressed in the grace available through God the Son’s death and resurrection. That’s the foundation. Strengthening relationship within the fellowship of a church today is the role of God the Spirit.
We can learn to be a better host for the Spirit’s work among us. Christ-centered churches are very comfortable with Paul’s analogy of being a body of Christ. But we won’t make much progress until we also become comfortable using his analogy of a church as a fellowship of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit who gives the energy and motivation for healthy church life. How do congregations become better fellowships of the Spirit? It starts with taking the Spirit seriously and praying for his increased presence.
Churches of the Reformation five hundred years ago did not have to work hard at clarifying their purpose. What they needed was political support. They worked on the input of what the true church is. Today churches of the Reformation do have to be clear on what they offer, or they will pass out of existence. It is time to focus on output. The core offering has to have something to do with hope for a better life, certainly in eternity but also here and now. Finding a better life implies change, movement and growth.
One approach is to focus on Christ and becoming more Christ-like in our personal lives. Paul tells the Ephesians to keep working at building up the body of Christ and become mature, “attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). The other approach is to focus on growing in the love, joy, peace, hope and trust that the Spirit produces in believers, the fruit Paul highlights.
Reveal is a well-done recent study of Evangelical congregations that anticipated congregants growing in a movement from Exploring Christ, to Growing in Christ, to Close to Christ and then to Christ-centered. The study, reported in Move (2011), identified differences in the participants’ use of Scripture, prayer and involvement in church life, among other things. What a welcome contribution.
But what that sophisticated study does not do is identify how believers moved from one stage to a higher one. To move implies motivation. How did their motivations change? Getting that answer would require delving into their personal life stories and the influences on their lives. We believe the ultimate influencer is the Holy Spirit, working through other believers gathered around God’s Word. How did he do that in their lives? How does he do that in your life and in others around you? The simplest research is to ask. Be encouraged by what you find.
Hello, David. Thank you for clarifying, once again, how the Holy Trinity cannot be separated, but that today’s churches, in order to survive, need to welcome the Holy Spirit, the third person in the Trinity, in a more meaningful way in the role of the worshiper as part of the community and body of believers. One is to be part of the “whole”, yet be diligent in one’s daily walk and communicating with the Holy Spirit. That is the “change” you were talking about, if I understood it correctly.
Hi Elaine, The change in thinking I am trying to highlight is the Spirit certainly works on the hearts of each believer. But he works especially through a fellowship of believers gathered around his Word and sharing their experiences. Luther highlights how the Spirit works through other believers. Some churches do that mutual sharing of faith experiences easily. Lutherans don’t. That’s not in our culture. I hope to make such sharing easier through an online community of fellows church members. It turns out this programming is difficult, and the programmer has missed a number of deadlines. Next week Thursday is the latest one. We’ll see.
The power of the Holy Spirit can be witnessed whenever we serve others in His name. We often fail to openly give the credit for our “good works” to the source and that is Jesus. It is when we openly proclaim the reason for our joyous living and serving as Jesus it is then that the Holy Spirit is able to enter in and begin to transform hearts & souls. If we just let our good deeds speak for themselves any observers or recipients may falsely give the credit to ourselves leaving them to believe there are just some “good people” in the world. In a way we are bearing false witness when we accept the glory for ourselves. Worse yet the seeds of the Spirit are not sown leaving little possibility of bearing good fruit for His glory at any point in the future. An easy way to give witness is to deliberately Plan Acts of Christian Kindness (P.A.C.K.) out in busy places in your community whereby you love on all others through a free practical gift or a helpful service using the Connect Card to give all the credit to Jesus. In doing so you are also providing them with a taste of what His grace for them is like, freely given and cannot be earned or bought at any price. On the back of the card invite them to your church services/school/youth activities and so on. Care-Share-Connect! In doing so you get very used to giving Jesus all the glory and through some unbelievable “God moments” that come from everyday people through powerful testimonies and split second timing, your faith levels build rapidly. All ages can do PACK and it produces some great teaching moments for everyone, but especially our youth! The more PACK you do the more you experience God at work through His Spirit! The free PACK program will get you started. Simply go to: https://www.acts18.org/christian-kindness-program. God Bless!
Hi, Lee. Thanks again for your emphasis on PACK. We just had our Servant Saturday a week ago. Again, we had about 300 that went out and served those in need. It’s a feel-good morning reinforcing the basic message that Christians serve others. That is basic to biblical identity.