Is Your Church Spirit-Led or Curriculum-Led?

Lots of us in the evangelical world pride ourselves on not being "bound by traditions of men". No siree. We don't have those legalistic trappings associated with mere tradition, or do we?

I think the biggest surprise for my husband and me over our years of ministry is that many people in our local churches don't have a sense of community amongst themselves. We assume that in small churches everyone knows each other well, and get along well. Larger churches usually have small groups, and we assume most people know each other well and make connections outside of church. What we've discovered is often times folks tend to know each other on an acquaintance level, but they don't necessarily have contact with each other outside of Sunday worship or an evening Bible study. If a meeting starts at 7:00PM, people tend to show up at 6:55PM and hit the door about 5 minutes after the end of the meeting.

Someone once said to us that you can tell how healthy a church is by how quickly people leave after the service.

We've found that our people really want to go deeper with God - they want to grow and learn. How many pastors ever hear that from their congregation? For that we are very thankful! However, what we're finding over our 20+ years in ministry is that many people are so accustomed to living parallel lives without intertwining, that our greatest weakness (as Christians) is not in knowledge of the Bible, but in application of its principles within the church body.

For example, a few years back at a Bible study one week, a woman shared something about her life which resulted in her having an emotional breakdown right in front of everyone. The others in the group acted like they didn't know how to respond, and the group's facilitator seemed a bit agitated that my husband and another older lady stopped to lay hands on the woman and prayed for her. What about keeping on schedule? What about the list of things we must do during the Bible study time? What if we don't get through all the questions in the lesson for the night?

What indeed?

Are we not called as the Body of Christ to minister life to each other? How can we bear one another's burdens and fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2) if we never take the time to actually find out what burdens a person might be bearing? When did we go from being Spirit led to being curriculum-led?

Why is the average church so preoccupied with church growth, programs, schedules, strategies while her members struggle to keep the faith in their individual lives? How can iron sharpen iron if we don't know each other well enough to hold each other accountable to live godly in this present age? How can we put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if we are too busy trying to stick to the assigned times and assigned lessons?

What I've found is that we evangelicals do, in fact, have many traditions of men. That's not to say they are bad, but we have elevated them almost to the authority level of Scripture itself in our churches. What do I mean? How about the tradition of having a Sunday morning service, a Sunday evening service, and a mid-week Bible study? You say, "What on earth is wrong with that?" Nothing. But if that's all we're doing, and not being sensitive to the Holy Spirit when He prompts us to minister to a brother or sister in the Lord, then something is missing in our lives... and in our churches.

We need each other. We need to love on each other, serve each other. Sometimes this will mean disregarding the time and helping someone when it's inconvenient. Sometimes it will mean doubling a meal, and sending half of it to a family whose momma is sick. Sometimes it will mean staying late after church to try to meet that person who sat all alone during service. Why is this important? Jesus Himself said, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34,35)

My heart's cry for the Body of Christ around the state, nation, and globe is that all of us will learn to relax a bit and be more like Mary than Martha (see Luke 10:38-42). We're really good at forming committees and scheduling meetings. We're good at creating new ministries, drafting mission statements, and formulating church growth strategies. Now it's time for us to get on to the messy part of Christianity - really getting to know and love each other. When that happens, watch out!

Go ahead, ask the Holy Spirit to prompt you when He needs you to reach out to a brother or sister in Christ. Your mind will fight against it - "He'll think I'm crazy!" or "I don't have time for this!" Don't be fooled - when you reach out and try to love on another person, God is using you to plant seeds of hope in their heart. What a wonderful way to spend your time.

Oh, and don't forget your Pastor. He needs those seeds, too!