We're aware of the dredded bandwagon when it comes to sports, but how often are we aware of it when it comes to movements of the Spirit. Throughout my brief lifetime of 29 years there have been some very generous moves of the Spirit in my own life and the church at large: the 'Seeker Sensative' movement that made us aware that there are actually people outside the church we need to reach...the Vineyard movement that brought into the church a new experience of worship...reaching way back there was the Pentecostal movement that brought an emphasis of the experience of the Spirit moving in the church...and currently there is the missional movement that is bringing a great awareness of God's concern for justice, orphans, widows, and the church being the hands and feet of Jesus.
I've gotten swept up in the missional movement over the past several years. It's amazing to read what's out there in books and magazines and see how much of it deals with the mission of the church and great concern with the poor. It is calling the church back to its work as the church.
What is interesting with each new move of the Spirit is that the past moves of the Spirit are less emphasized or forgotten about in favor of the new move. Does the new move invalidate the old or is the Spirit just trying to continue to move the church along? In the effort to follow the Spirit into the new places of ministry and paradigm changes we would do well to remember where we've been. Israel recounted time after time their history. The church today would be wise to do the same. While not longing for the days of old we should be learning from them. Our past should shape our present as we strive to be the faithful bride of Christ.
I was challenged last night in my own life in a conversation with a Christian brother. There has been an enormous move on my behalf and of our church to become missional. However for me the missional nature of things has eclipsed some of the past moves of the Spirit...especially the part of me that takes root in the Pentecostal tradition. I journaled this morning something to the effect that the danger of becoming too missional is that we become works oriented and lack the need and desperation of the Spirit (that brings salvation). The other end is that if we focus on the Spirit to do the work we tend to get lazy and say it's all up to God.
So in the end what I feel I'm called to is this: Live missionally. Live for the Kingdom of God. Base my decisions not on cultural standards but on Kingdom standards. Love the outcasts and orient my life to serve them. AND. Pray. Pray for the outpouring of the Spirit that has been experienced in times past through great revivals. Fast. Seek God. Don't let up on the pursuit of Almighty God to put the power and drawing of the Spirit of Christ behind the acts of service.
If living missionally and a deep dependance on the Spirit are not in consistent tension there is a danger of floating toward either legalistic unempowered service or simple laziness.
I know this may sound harsh, but this is something that I'm trying to flesh out myself. It's a tension I find myself in.
