structure should submit to Spirit...another core value

Structure should always submit to Spirit. It's a core value of The Journey and it happens to be one of my personal core values.

I've never been one that liked much of what the traditional church had to offer, except God. It was full of structures that had lost their relevancy, efficiency, and spirituality. Boards, committees, buildings, business meetings, and church members that felt like the church had been built on their family name...all of these structures an invention of fallen men. The structures got more attention than God. In fact, the structures made the decisions and God was asked to bless the structures. How twisted is that? Unfortunately, there's a lot of churches out there that still live in that world. These are the people that use the Scripture that says, "I the LORD do not change" as a mantra for inflexibility.

If most churches came to The Journey Church and sat through the business meetings we don't have and see how much the leaders trust the people and vice-versa, we would have to call 911 because they would go into cardiac arrest. The upside is, we would still make our decisions the same way. The downside is, the cardiac arrest might not scare enough hell out of the typical church attender.

What blows me away is how the Church got so screwed up in its decision making process. I've known churches that have taken years to decide how one fund was going to be spent. The Biblical model is to pray, hear from God, then take the action that He gives. Oh yeah, did I mention that in the Scripture that the leaders got together, prayed, heard from God and then told the people what was going to happen? No votes. No committees (literally the name of a gathering of vultures). No business meetings.

The Church in the book of Acts turned like a modern day JetSki. Nimble, quick, and able to react at a moment's notice from the Holy Spirit. A more literal analogy is that the early Church reacted to the Spirit's leading like a body instead of a business. It moved together, in concert. Swiftly. Sometimes slowly. Always in unity.

When I talk about our land as the "next location" it makes some people jumpy. You see, after we move from the school to the "next location" of a rented property, our next move will be to our land which is another "next location." Human beings are creatures of habit. We don't really like change that much. When I talk about a "next location", they want to hear something with a more permanent ring to it. They want their Promised Land. So do I, but God doesn't do tabernacles, temples, or synagogues anymore. He does the Church through His people, the Body of Christ. That means buildings can and are used by God but frankly I think we've come full circle from the first century to a synagogue model of church. Jesus went to the synagogue to teach, but the bulk of His ministry was in the marketplace...but that subject is for another day.

Back to the subject at hand. Some want to know what the vision is for the next five years. I want to worry about today, because "tomorrow has enough trouble of its own." Yes, we have a vision and we've made plans. We've planned out the details of what has been referred to by one person as "Starbucks meets church". It's going to be a fun place to invite people to hear about the claims of Jesus Christ. We're also fully aware that the Spirit of the living God could tell us that we need to change it tomorrow. That means being flexible. Being willing to submit structure to the Spirit. To succeed at being flexible, you have to be close to the heart of God. Maybe that's why change and flexibility is so hard for most of us.