Shane Raynor at The Wesley Blog has started a lively discussion on the Holy Spirit in relation to healing and the life of the Methodist Church. I think it is easy to see that the Methodist Church is operating in more of a maintenance mode and is not moving forth dynamically through the power of the Holy Spirit.
I have blogged on this issue before and have preached and taught on this many, many times. Why are we not seeing the power of the Holy Spirit made manifest in the Methodist Church?
Jerry Varnadoe, the pastor at Gateway Church in Athens, GA, made this statement in a sermon back in February, 2003:
"The founder of our denomination, John Wesley, was concerned that the Methodist movement, which began in an explosion of God's power, would stop tapping into that power. Here's what he wrote: "I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist.... But I am afraid, lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power.""
Having just come through Annual Conference and heading out now for our District Pastor Set-up Meeting and being overburdened with paperwork and apportionment forms and the like, I have to wonder if we are existing as a dead sect, worrying more about apportionments and pastor salaries and clergy compensations than winning people to Christ and seeing the power of the Holy Spirit made manifest throughout our church.
I think it's time for the Methodist Church as a whole to sit down and re-examine where we are and where we should be heading. What is our focus? Where is our attention? Where are we spending our money and our time and our energy? Is it on maintaining the church or is it in letting God transform lives through us?
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