[This post is part of a series on Leading Your Team & Congregation Through Worship Tensions. Check out the rest here.]
Before we answer that question, let’s ask another. What does the moving of the Holy Spirit look like?
A warm, fuzzy feeling?
A third key change?
Singing “How He Loves”?
A crowded room?
Tongues and interpretation?
People falling all over the place?
Healings?
I’m really interested to know what the community thinks here.
I don’t know about you but I’m hungry for the moving of the Holy Spirit.
But I don’t want to manufacture something that feels good and call it the Holy Spirit. I also don’t want to box Him in and say He can’t move through a team’s hard work and diligent planning.
Question: So what do you say? What does the moving of the Holy Spirit look like? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
This is a really good question, and something that I was conversing about last night with our church launch team. I think one of the biggest things that came out of it, was a place where the revelation of the gospel can affect people at ALL stages in their walks with Christ. It is something that is almost impossible to plan for, but something that the Holy Spirit can do, and I believe is a fruit of his movement.
So the moving of the Holy Spirit is more than just a “service” experience and something that affects people’s entire lives?
Bingo.
One word: authenticity.
Brandon, are you saying the Holy Spirit moves through our authenticity?
Yes. What I mean is that we can tell if the Holy Spirit is moving if authenticity is being presented in the service and outside of the service.
In other words, you can really notice a change in people and in your own life!
Another good post and important question. I think it is very easy for us to look at service “snapshots” and evaluate whether we feel the Spirit has moved. A lot of time, when regarding “snapshot moments”, we are forced to base our assessment on people’s reactions and how we all “felt” in that moment. However, I have been challenged to consider the moving of the Holy Spirit from a longer perspective – over time. Are we growing deeper? Is there fruit evident in the lives of the people of our congregation? Are we, as a whole. changing more into the image of Christ? If the answers to these questions are “yes”, then I would daresay the Holy Spirit is moving among us. And the emotion, freedom and unity “felt” during our worship services will be evidence of Him moving.
Elizabeth, I always love your comments. Such vivid descriptions. It seems you’re saying the same thing as Darrell in that the moving of the Holy Spirit should result in a difference in our personal lives. I love the “longer perspective” idea. Not “is God moving now” but “what is the fruit of the Holy Spirit moving over time”? Beautiful.
I think we know the Holy Spirit is moving when change is happening in our lives and, as a result, in the church. More importantly when we see souls being won to Jesus inside and outside the church. The Holy Spirit is more than thrills, chills, and tears. Although all of these are ways we can experience the Holy Spirit, the point of the Holy Spirit was to be our comforter, and empowerer (i don’t even know if that’s a word haha), but the point of the Holy Spirit is to help us win souls to Jesus. Call me old school, but that’s my definition of revival 🙂
Acts 1:8…” But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Love your thoughts, Zack. If there’s no newly saved souls in your church, I agree, something is not right. The Holy Spirit is always drawing people to Himself.
True words there!
hmmmm….this is a tough one……
1. My experience in growing up has always been …
Tongues and interpretation.
People falling all over the place.
But then you get older and you realize not every church is like your church….I see now that this is only 1 of many manifestations of the Holy Spirit…
Honestly…I think the Holy Spirit is already moving if the essential word of God is being taught or preached…and the name of Jesus is being exalted and the work of the cross is at the core of every message…..
Do you still believe in the experiences you grew up with?
Word of God being preached, name of Jesus exalted, and the message of the cross – love that!
With all my heart! lol…it’s what has shaped my beliefs….we are a hard core bible based church…The bible is everything to us…it the living breathing word of the most high God!…
it’s a spanish cultured church so it’s different…our worship is like dance parties!!! lol…
But Jesus and the cross stays at the center of no matter what is preached!!!!
It’s interesting that sometimes we try to manufacture the setting that we believe will help the spirit move… when the truth is that he moves regardless. Does the spirit move only when things go according to plan or does he still work, sometimes more powerfully, when we are a little out of sorts?
I wrote a similar post on ‘Holy Atmosphere’ (http://robrash.us/holy-atmosphere-manufactured-or-not/) raising the question on our involvement in the process.
We may never know the extent of our part, but it’s good to rest in the promises of God!
Hey Rob! Yea, I remember reading this. I don’t think settings help the Spirit move. He will move regardless. However, carefully constructed settings can help we distracted humans focus. Good stuff. Thanks for chiming in!
I think that all of the comments combined together talk about ways that we can know that the Holy Spirit is moving in our services. The thing is, the Holy Spirit is there, we just have to bring ourselves to the place where we can sense His presence. I think that the song services helps to bring us to the place where we can focus on worship and truly sensing the presence of the Holy Spirit and then as the message is preach the Holy Spirit can speak to us and help us to learn what we need to continue to grow in our relationship with Christ. This will lead to our living out that relationship each day among those around us and sharing our experiences with the people in our lives that will eventually draw them to Christ. So the Holy Spirit moving in our services is evidenced by the fruit that comes from what we have experienced in our services and have implemented in our daily lives.
Great thoughts, Sandi. I love that: the moving of the Holy Spirit is evidenced by the fruit in our daily lives. Beautiful.
So many times, we try to equate the Holy Spirit to a physical manifestation (ie. goosebumps, tongues, shouts, tears, etc). However, scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit moves in many ways.
It teaches – John 14:26
It guides – Galatians 5:25
It fills – Luke 4:14
It leads – Luke 4:1
It speaks – Luke 2:26
It intercedes – Romans 8:26
It convicts – John 16:8-11
I don’t think that you have to have “physical” evidence to know that the Spirit is moving. If the truth is presented and God is glorified, the Spirit is working within the lives of the congregation and performing all of those things.
I like the “longer perspective” explanation above.
Great thoughts!
Wow, Kerry. Way to bring the Scriptures! That is awesome. Do you think the “physical” has any place in the moving of the Holy Spirit?
Of course! I just think we tend “sell short” the Holy Spirit if we don’t see or “feel” the movement. I’ve been guilty of feeling like a service wasn’t productive because i didn’t see or feel a movement but only find out later that someone was impacted by the worship in way that changed their life outside of the “building”.
Amen. Well said, Kerry.
Wow , this is a fantastic conversation. Love how you framed the question. I’d say there are 2 dimensions, the long term and the immediate.
Long term, does the church seem to be a healthy community? People doing life together, speaking honestly, serving one another, doing works of compassion and justice.
Immediate, there are times the Shekinah glory manifests itself in a unique and undeniable way – God does seem to “show up.” Are people engaged and participating, can people spirit “sense” the presence of the Lord? Are they worshiping wholeheartedly? 🙂
I have not see the movement either and I so desire to see the movement of Jesus in the Church. I think that there is too much of the world in the church today.
Here’s a question? Do we as worship leaders tend to blame others when the spirit hasn’t moved? I know I use to until a couple of months ago. For example: God is not about feelings or the congregation is the problem.
The change in our worship has come because we as a team are not only asking for God to show up but we now have an expectation for it. Not “maybe” the Spirit will manifest, but that He will!
When we are backstage, I tell my singers & musicians, that right here we are joe whoever, but when our feet touch the platform, we are warriors. All God asks is that we take the first step, then he’ll part the red sea.
I encourage (and lead by example) for my team to worship with abandon because He’s here. And there is a change. Something is really happening. It’s wonderful. But truthfully, I’m afraid to over analysis it. I just want to enjoy it.
I’m stuck on this bc I was raised in a very spirit filled Church yet the Churh I’m in now is structured to a timeline and it seems everyone is going through the motions. It has been months since some one was saved or even went up for prayer which invitation only last a few minutes. Any help? I have felt the spirit, saw the spriri move and change lives.
I think that today people are hungry and churches are crying out for God. Not to say that they are only looking for some physical experience. But when the manifested presence of the Holy Spirit comes into a congregational gathering in such a way that there is true restoration of peoples souls, transformation of their minds, and true change in their lives through his presence, that is what people are truly desiring. To experience God. I hear people always reference different events around the country and earth where they believe God was moving and people form all over went to see for themselves. There were a lot of things that came out of those events, to which I cannot now speak of. However, If you consider the dedication of the temple of Solomon. That event proves a true manifestation of the Holy Spirit, the manifested presence of God, amongst men. So strongly that the priest could not even stand on their feet to minister. Again on the day of Pentecost as referenced in the book of Acts. I know that believers are changed by the teaching of the scripture, when it is taught in an accurate way, when Christ is at the center, and knowing him is the agenda of it all. But I do believe that preachers and believers are truly hungry and desiring to see God truly move in a real biblical description of the word move. That such a manifestation of his spirit is so strong to accompany the worship, praise and preaching of the word, more than anything we have seen or experienced to this very moment. That believers everywhere take that with them into their homes, jobs, churches, schools, etc, etc. In other words God taking his people to a whole new level then we have ever been. Illuminating our minds to see greater than we have ever seen. Discarding all the boxes we have created for God, church, expectations. That he does a “NEW THING” that we don’t even have words in the human language to describe. That we don’t have to try to force it or try to keep reproducing the move of the past. That we turn it all loose, and find out what happens. I believe this is a deep desire in the heart of many believers that love Christ with all their hearts, and truly want to see this world and this church changed and transformed. We just don’t know how to get there so we keep praying, trying, practicing, anticipating………