21st Century Christianity (DRAFT)

1 The 20th Century Church

As the 20th Century closed, there came a moment to review and assess the state of the Church at that time. What had it achieved? How far had it moved? What were the land-marks – the High points – the low points.

Certainly we should start at two wonderful highs – the Welsh Revival or 1904 and the Asuza Street Revival a couple of years later. What highs they were. Thousands brought into the kingdom. Jails emptied – courts with nothing to do – church and chapel full to bursting. A positive explosion of the Gospel amongst the common men and women of the age.

Then we had the birthing of the Pentecostal Movement in 1923 – the wonderful ministries of the Jeffries brothers, Aimie Semple MacPherson, Smith Wigglesworth, and more recently, Kathryn Khulman, Billy Graham, and modern day phenomena like Benny Hinn, Reinhard Bonnke, Louis Palau.

There was the rebirth of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit amongst all this too. The Hebridean Revival of 1949, and more recent still we had the Toronto Blessing, the Argentine Revival, Brownsville,Pensacola, and Smithton Outpourings.

But what about the lows – the Ecumenical Movement, the scandals and tragedies of many who should have known better being splashed all over the media. And one very important question - Where is the fruit – the lasting fruit?

Many were saved in the above mentioned high-lights. Squillions $$$ were spent on programs, outreaches, missions, crusades and so on. Our churches should have been full to bursting – but no, attendances are probably at an all time low right now. SO where oh where is all the fruit. The Word of God says that “by their fruit shall you know them” – so where is the fruit. What has gone wrong? All those programs, outreaches, missions, crusades and so on, just whose idea were they. Were they Gods plans or mans plans? I think we know the answer by now.

Another facet of the later 20th Century was the way the church moved forward. Of course the baptism of the Holy Spirit became to be much more widespread – I received my own in 1989 – but since about 1980 Holy Spirit baptism became almost the hallmark of the whole charismatic movement. We had seen the beginnings of it way back in the late 60’s but no real take-off occurred until the 80’s. However, the baptism didn’t come empty handed.

Along with the charismatic movement came a complete revolution in praise and worship with great worship bands springing up almost daily it seemed. Of course, the emphasis was on the younger generations but even older people like myself discovered that we could still have ‘cool’ musical tastes as the music was very popular even if the words weren’t. Bands/Churches like Hillsong in Australia started to lead the musical way and this pointed us towards the new millennium.

So where do we head from here? Whats to do? Much more relevantly, what are Gods plans for the 21st Century? Having tasted the church in excess of 60 years, I started to discuss this with my peers. One of them, Mike Jones from Northampton, sent me a text asking about “What is Church nowadays?” that is when I started to hear from the Lord about the coming Century – and so a series of essays called 21st Century Church was born. This in turn led me, through a couple of prophetic words, to assemble my scribbling properly into this wee book “21st Century Christianity”

2 The 21st Century Gospel

We need first to look at what Christianity is saying to the world. How is it looking to the world? I am immediately faced with this quite awkward question. Have we watered down the Gospel? I don’t hear much about repenting and dying daily to self so He can be seen more clearly through us. Jesus gave us just two things – a cross so we can follow Him daily, and eternal life so that, if we run the race, we can be with Him forever.

Are we, the shepherds, guilty of tickling the ears of our flock and not feeding and cultivating them as we should.
How the devil must laugh as we preach the world rather than preaching the Gospel or teaching from the Word. Feed the church meat not more milk.

The prosperity gospel is really 2 Tim 4:3-4 "the ear-ticklers gospel" - it’s what the audience wants to hear rather than what’s needed. In my opinion, the prosperity gospel is evil - a ploy by the enemy to distract us from where we should be going. Only my opinion mind. I mean - you try preaching the prosperity gospel in Africa or India or China. It will then be the ridiculous gospel. What do you think ? The prosperity gospel is really 2 Tim 4:3-4 "the ear-ticklers gospel" – it is also not Biblical. Oh you can quote Jeremiah 29:11 ‘plans to prosper you’ etc – but did Jesus ever quote this passage? I think we frequently take it right out of context when applying it to ourselves. Am I off the wall here? It’s a hard one. But it is definitely being used as an 'ear tickler' by some and that surely must be wrong??

We rarely, if ever, now hear of denying ourselves & taking up the cross as a true follower of Christ. I haven’t heard that message from the pulpit for years:( Right - Gods provision is one thing. Jesus actually said that It is harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven etc - To me, Prosperity gospel is mainly about greed for more and more – excess to our needs.

I believe God calls us into something. Being no mans debtor, He calls, He equips, He provides. SImple really. I believe there is a move towards a 1st century church in the 21st century. The first century church was about relationships – with God first, then with each other. Its beginning here too. Is this the new move of God ?? That’s it - return to our first love; the joy of our salvation. Rev 3 - How I wish you were hot or cold etc. We've grown lukewarm. I also believe the days of the mega-church are numbered. The Lord has been showing me this of late. Smaller is better it seems. Amen??

God is NOW replacing ritual with relationship. Surely - we must be replacing ritual with relationship. We must be redeveloping our relationships with God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit.

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What is the 1st/21st century church?

The Lord has been pouring His words into me. It’s been a quite amazing couple of days.

So tonight, when a friend wrote about getting out of the comfort zone of our cosy Sunday meetings, the phrase "In the round" came leaping to the fore. Staggered by my own creative ability (NOT) and amazed by my ability to think deeply about those things on which I have either no experience or no knowledge whatsoever, or both, I took the road of last resort. "OK Lord", says I, "Please explain - what is 'in the round' supposed to be - please?"

He took me back to a period of my life when I was planning and (almost) booking the Millennium Stadium for an outreach meeting to celebrate the centenary of the Welsh Revival. OK - let me try to explain (this could be a bit disjointed)

When we read that any pop star is doing a concert or a well know evangelist has taken Wembley Arena or Stadium for a crusade, they either have the venue set up 'theatre' or 'in the round'. Theatre is the traditional way with the stage or platform set up at one side with access and egress handy for the 'star' to get on and off the stage. In the round on the other hand is much more daring - ask Louis Palau :o) In the round is when the 'platform is in the very centre of your venue completely surrounded by the audience. When Louis Palau did this once, "to be close to the people" there was such a crush he was trapped on the platform for a few hours. So 'in the round' in the sense of holding church meetings would be much more intimate and almost cabaret style in its set up.

So, I wondered, how would it work for a Sunday morning service. Well obviously the P&W team would need to be in their usual position - but, the meeting leader, pastor, and any visiting speaker, would need to be comfortable with a roving mike (hand held or radio) AND be prepared to be right in the middle of the congregation amongst the people. Some will not be comfortable with this. THEN, add to this the congregations ability to go grab another coffee, nip out for a comfort break, and their general amusement and fascination with the new scheme of things and you just about have it.

Let me tell you here that the most successful meetings our ministry has had, has been when the speaker comes down from the platform and walks around or even sits amongst the audience. It is always much more intimate and personal - some would say it’s too close up and personal. However, every time we have done it, the people LOVE it because their pastor and the speaker is not aloof and far off - he/she "is right here amongst us."

Problem is space and venue - have you room for all the tables. Do you HAVE all the tables. Can it be done in the traditional setting in a standard church with rows of seats. And so on & on & on. Lots to pray about and consider. Yet . . . . .

I have to say that I am quite excited by this idea just sitting here typing this all out for you. I want to give it a go.

That’s about as far as I have taken it today. I am sure the Lord has more to say, but it will have to wait for now. It is after all very early Friday morning and I started this quite late Thursday evening.

Enough - I will probably be awake with this til 2 or 3 o'clock

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3 21st Century Praise & Worship

A friend just remarked about praise & worship (for which she is the keyboarder) “I'm always in awe of how God's presence shows up. That is the true joy and honour.” To which I replied “Amen - Always amazes me too but it really shouldn't. Where 2 or 3 are gathered etc. He's already there we should expect Him” It’s at moments like this that I almost inevitably spot a little flag waving in my mind’s eye. Its God, of course, saying, “Excuse me please, Can I have a wee word about that?” Last time He did this I was up til after 1 a.m. typing His and my collected or inspired thoughts down. Why do people wait til its late to send me messages like this??

Well, the Word does say that “where 2 or 3 are gathered in My Name, there shall I be also.” Yet so often our expectations seem to reflect our faith levels and we really don’t expect Him to “show up” or “put in an appearance”. SO much so that when His presence does manifest itself in any way, we always seem to be utterly gobsmacked – that’s colloquial English for amazed.

My trouble is that, as a ‘sometime prophet’ (as my on line bio reads), I see many things in visions from the Lord. Increasingly of late I have been seeing the golden Glory Cloud of His presence over meetings, over churches, over towns. (Not yet seen it over a nation but it’s coming.) It is truly amazing to behold and it carries power even in a vision – so much so that I frequently sit down before I fall down. It’s almost Old Testament in the way I cannot stand in His presence – even in a vision !!

So what is it about our level of faith or our level of expectation? Why do we regard our churches, our meetings, even our own lives in such low esteem that we do not expect anything special from our loving God. He is always in our meetings, whether we realise it or not – His Word promises that much. I believe our trouble is that we have ignored Him or suppressed Him for so long that even He may be surprised to be allowed to manifest His presence among us. The Holy Spirit absolutely delights in making His presence known among us. When someone is leading or just joining in a song and their face shines – THAT is the Holy Spirit trying to say hello to the rest of us. Yet we ignore Him because we have little or no expectation of His divine presence. That is just so incredibly sad.

So what’s to do? I suggest we increase our expectation levels because we KNOW He is already among us when we start our meeting – where 2 or 3 etc. I suggest we acknowledge this in our hearts and give ourselves to praise and worship in a new more whole hearted way. EXPECT the Lord to manifest His presence and when this happens DONT QUASH Him – you will grieve the Spirit and He will leave you alone again immediately. Let us RAISE our Faith levels to a new heightened expectation of the manifest presence of God. Expect to even SEE the Glory Cloud of His Presence in your meetings – but don’t expect to stay on your feet for long. You will be on Holy Ground!! It might not be a bad idea to show your expectation by taking your shoes OFF before you start. This may well say to the Lord that you are acknowledging His presence among you and that you are indeed on Holy Ground.

When the anointing and the presence comes – it will be a whole new ball-game from that moment on. Your praise and worship will never be the same again. All because you lifted your faith and raised your expectation levels a little bit. God will raise them much higher when He “shows up” and WOW – I see it already – your faith will rise exponentially. Your expectation levels will hit unprecedented heights. His presence will bring passers by in off the streets and they will fall in the anointing because, like us and like the priests and Levites before us, they will not be able to stand in the presence of the Lord God Almighty. Amen – let it be so Lord. \o/

Liturgical Correctness

Wow – I feel like the Lord has been running back and forth over me with a large Mac truck. He is speaking so much to me about 21st Century Church. I started typing a short message on my computer and Blammo – there He was again saying, “Can I say something here please?” Oh boy – here we go then –

There is a new sin overtaking the Church - it is called Liturgical Correctness. Rather like Political Correctness, it is aimed at dumbing down church by taking all the spontaneity out of our services. But this is rather more than just another step in the decline of the Church – rather it is specifically a Pharisaic spirit which contends that we do things ‘decently and in order’. The really dangerous thing here is that this is quite Biblical. 1 Corinthians 14:40 “But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.”

I remember as a kid going to both Sunday School and to Church. Everything was done ‘decently and in order’ – A hymn, a prayer, a reading, a prayer, another hymn, the sermon, another prayer, final hymn, final prayer, the blessing, GO HOME. The real trouble with this was that there was absolutely no room for the Holy Spirit to move in those meetings (there still isn’t) and as a consequence the meetings were dry and lifeless. There’s an old joke where the punch line has God laughing and saying, “Man I’ve been trying to get into that church for years!” But it wasn’t much of a joke because it was too true to be funny.

“Everything done in a fitting and orderly way.” OK – someone please define ‘fitting and orderly way’ ?? There is nowhere in scripture which defines ‘fitting and orderly way’. Sure, there are passages that speak of two or three bringing messages in tongues – with interpretation. We can prophesy, we can bring words, we can do all sorts of things – but in what sequence and why does it all have to be done in the same sequence every week. The Church, in the days of yore (centuries back), decided to lay down rules for services – they called it Liturgy. And liturgy seemed good to us for very many years – it was what church was – past tense – WAS. And it was good – you could go into a new church and you’d know what was happening because of where you were on the hymn list or what prayer was being said. Catholicism went a step or two further by insisting that their services all over the world were held in Latin so you would go anywhere and understand exactly what was going on. And it seemed good to us. Nowadays, there are still very many who will not let go of their beloved liturgy.

Liturgical correctness has infiltrated our planning, our very thinking, and it is STILL stopping the Holy Spirit in His tracks. The Holy Spirit is a gentleman – where He is not wanted or not invited or baulked by our ‘liturgy’ – He withdraws. It was not always so. In the 1st Century Church, we are told in Acts 4 that, “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly” (Emphasis mine) Let me ask you – when was the last time the power of the Holy Spirit shook the place where your church was meeting?

So, please, let us stop being Liturgically Correct. Let us give our meetings over to the Holy Spirit completely. Let us return to whatever seems the best way of holding 1st Century meetings in the 21st Century. Yes we praise and worship together for God inhabits the praises of His people. Yes we pray together. Yes we have prophecy and testimony for the edification and encouragement of all. But there is a sense that says – who cares what sequence EXCEPT that I believe P&W must always start us off because P&W brings the manifest presence of God – the Cloud of His Glory. After that comes in, who knows what may happen? And to quote a well known sports commentator – “And quite honestly - who cares!”

4 21st Century Presence of God

Well here we are again Lord. I know you have something to say and I am listening.

The few comments I have received for this blog have been so encouraging but the overwhelming feedback I am getting is from the Lord and He started to speak to me about His presence when I was responding to one of those comments.

The manifest presence of God is a tangible thing because the Glory Cloud of His Presence is not only tangible but visible too. It is tangible in the sense that, as in the days of Moses, when we come into His presence, we too cannot stand; we too need a rope tied around us to pull us out; but we will not die in His presence as the High Priest did in those olden days. This is because of what Jesus won for us on Calvary.

On Calvary, Jesus conquered death. On Calvary Jesus redeemed us from sin. On Calvary Jesus paid the price for everything we have ever done or will ever do in order to bring us back into the manifest presence of God the Father. Calvary was the price for us to come back into Gods presence – nothing else could have done it for us. So when we praise and worship Him today or any day, we would do well to remember what it cost to bring us to this point.

But the Lord is not satisfied with us just coming into His presence and we should not be satisfied either because there is more to come – more of Himself that He wants to share with us. More for us to experience of Him. He wants more in that we have very rarely actually seen the Cloud of His presence as did Moses and the Children of Israel. He wants us to actually inhabit that cloud – just as He inhabits that cloud. Wow – what an amazing thought. To be in the very presence of the Lord God Almighty – on such Holy ground. He wants such intimacy with us as did the 1st Century Church. He wants for us what very few people have ever experienced. He wants to walk amongst us and talk with us as He did in the garden of Eden except that we cannot see Him. Or maybe we will – who knows except God Himself?

Can you even begin to imagine such a situation? I mean, there you are, middle of praise and worship, and suddenly – oh wow. First thing is that you feel the tangible presence. You carry on with your worship and the Glory Cloud becomes visible. Such is this presence that the ONLY thing we can do is to carry on worshiping Him – giving ourselves wholly over to praising and worshiping God – when suddenly He is actually standing in our midst in such a way as we cannot even dream about right now. He is talking to us individually – one on one. Every person present is totally healed of everything because sickness cannot abide in His presence. Down, down – on your faces. You cannot stand in His presence. Shoes OFF – this is Holy Ground. Nothing but the wonderful peace and presence of God. We are being made Holy in His sight just by His presence – despite our sinful natures.

THIS is what the Lord God Almighty wants for us mere mortals. This is what He wants for His children. This is where He wants to take us in the 21st Century Church. I see people running into that presence, drawn in by it, knocked down by it as they fall under the anointing, healed as they enter, saved and baptised in the Spirit in a moment. Changed for ever and ever.

It can be like this. It will be like this one day soon. Amen Lord – Let it be as you have shown us. Your Kingdom come – Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen Hallelujah.

5 21st Century Church Practices

Late 20th Century

First lets define what is meant by late 20th Century Church practices. Let me say, right up front, different isn’t necessarily of the devil or wrong – it may just be right but you’re not yet used to it !! I have developed what I call the Gamaliel Principle. (Acts 5) “Leave it alone. If it is not of God, it will falter and fail and there will be no problem. Do not fight it as, If it is of God, then you may find yourself fighting with God”.

OK Officers in any 20th Century church. Multiple jobs such as Priests(with all sorts of titles,) Pastors, Apostles, Deacons, Elders, Worship Leaders, Sunday School Teachers – the list is almost endless so don’t be upset if your job isn’t mentioned.

Communion – The ONE common denominator throughout the whole of Christianity. The only difference being in how it is practiced

In some churches there was a biblically based 5 fold ministry in place. The five ministries are Apostle Prophet Teacher Evangelist & Pastor

There were also ministries or Gifts of the Holy Spirit in operation in some churches. Most commonly these were Prophecy, Deliverance, and Healing. The most popular was the healing and prayer teams. Prophets, although common in large churches, were not very often to the fore (a prophet not being recognised in his own town), and Deliverance ministry was still virtually unknown other than in one or two more progressive churches – usually quite large ones. Individual Prophets were often featured on Christian TV thus giving them good ministries.

Sermons were pronounced on every subject under the sun – from politics & warmongering to the most erudite theological discussions which must have gone several miles over the heads of the receivers.

Dancing/Flags – This is a new ministry in its infancy even now. A new phenomenon since just prior to the turn of the century, dancing before the Lord during praise and worship – with or without flags banners and ribbons – has become one of the free-est expressions of praise. It can be prophetic and it can just be a joyous expression of love for the Lord

Other Ministries such as mum/parent & toddler, youth programs, OAP’s lunch club and so on have long been established as part of the serving church’s outreach to the world outside our doors. These are often wonderful happy ministries which fulfil many biblical exhortations to help others and to love our neighbours as ourselves.

21st Century

So what might the Lord be saying for the 21st Century Church. How should the Bride of Christ now be organised and focussed in these days approaching end-times – revival and rapture.

Let me say again, right up front, different isn’t necessarily of the devil or wrong – it may just be perfectly OK, both from a Biblical standpoint as well as a practice for that church. You’re simply not yet used to it !! I always use the Gamaliel Principle. You may have noticed that I have used a phrase – “Biblically based” – a couple of times now. This is because the phrase is important to the greater Church right now. In fact it is the crux of the matter as far as the emerging 21st Century Church is concerned.

As a church, we must be totally Biblically based. We must be totally Biblically aligned in everything we do. Our meetings, our ministries, our activities, our lives must be Biblically based. We must do three things that the Bible tells us to do. We must have the 5-fold ministries available. We must preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We must demonstrate lives that reflect our faith. So lets have a look at these one at a time.

6 The 5-Fold Ministry

We must first and foremost remember that all leadership positions inside or outside the 5-fold ministry are shepherds. There is warning enough in Ezekiel 34 against shepherds who, because of their position and authority, will be judged on a different chart to the rest of us.

That said then, the 5-fold ministry is first mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:27-30 “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? “

However, the generally accepted definition is found in Ephesians 4:11-13 "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers. to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."

I have included both passages so as to give as wide a definition as possible. I think the roles of Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, and Teacher are well enough defined elsewhere and need no further help or confusion from me. The one thing not covered or at least agreed upon by these definitions however is – Accountability

Apart from God Himself, all are accountable to Apostles, each other, and their church members. They will be judged on that day and we should therefor not judge them. However, if they will not accept correction or rebuke then the Word of God says to ‘put them out of the congregation until such time as they repent’. This is the same for any member of the congregation, by the way, and so it should also apply to leaders. A bit fierce – but that’s what it says.

Any 21st Century Church should also offer Healing, Deliverance, Counselling & Prayer/Intercession. Most churches today offer prayer. A few fewer offer intercession. Fewer again offer counselling. Only a very few offer deliverance ministry - sadly.


7 Preach the Gospel

If I haven’t done so already, this is the place where I start losing a few ‘friends’ among you. There is so much division in the Church as to what should or should not be done in church. There is limited guidance too from the Word so we have to discern for ourselves what the Lord is asking of us in our church.

This is where denominationalism was probably invented. Just a wee side track here – do any of us truly realise what an affront to the Lord all our man-mad denominations are? God wants ONE united Church as His Bride. Many people quote the body parts example saying that the body comprises many parts meaning denominations. NO NO NO – God wants one united church as Jesus said in John 17:20-23 where Jesus Prays for All Believers
"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

OK – I am sorry – I have had my rant – now back to the plot

1 Corinthians 14:26-33 “ What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.
Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.”

So this is how Paul sees what he calls “Orderly worship”. It is my opinion that this is a guide only. It is NOT a liturgical blue-print. We do not have to do every meeting in the same sequence; to the same pattern; to the same (boring) menu (sorry – order of service)

Incidentally, it does say here that prophets are also accountable to their peers, the prophets. I nearly missed that too.

What this important scripture omits any mention of the participation of the Holy Spirit in our meetings. The Place of the Holy Spirit in our meetings is of paramount importance. He is a gentleman. If we do not make room for Him, He will not push Himself forward. If, however, we do make room for Him, and make Him a very welcome participant with us, then we can expect much more lively events – even some spiritual fireworks.

God does not show up in our meetings. He is already there according to Jesus “For where 2 or 3 are gathered in My Name, there I will be also.” I have been in meetings turned on their heads by the Holy Spirit because His agenda, being Gods plan and therefore perfect, is frequently not our agenda. I have been speaking when the Holy Spirit has completely changed what I had to say therefore leaving me with absolutely no alternative but to rely entirely on His guidance as to what to say or do next. Great fun and enormously faith building !!

The great Commission
Marks Gospel also gives us a pretty good guide for our meetings.
Mark 16:15-16 “He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. "
Preach the Gospel and baptise believers. It goes on to say to drive out demons, speak in new tongues, and heal the sick (although I have omitted handling deadly snakes and drinking poison.)

So the primary purpose of any meeting is to preach the Gospel. As shepherds we are also responsible for feeding our flocks so we also need to teach from the scriptures too. Explaining and exhorting our flock to an ever deeper relationship with the Lord.

Communion

The most important meeting we have is the Lords Supper or communion as it is now colloquially called. 1 Corinthians 11:23-32 Lets just look at verse 27 onwards
1 Corinthians 11:27
Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.

Sometimes I think we take communion too lightly and this verse warns against doing that. What does unworthy mean? How are we unworthy? Is there sin in our lives?

A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.

Do some self examination – Is your conscience clear, Is there hidden sin? Have you unforgiveness anywhere? Clear it up with God now !! This is a serious matter.

For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.

If this is just bread & wine to us then something is wrong with our attitude. These sacraments represent the Body & Blood of Jesus at Calvary remembering what He did for us there

But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

In the end it is God who is our judge.

So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment.

Confess your sins to Him quietly (Everybody doesn’t need or want to hear)

Meeting Organisation

Praise and Worship. As stated earlier in Chapter 3, God inhabits the praises of His people. Therefore if we want to experience the manifest presence of God – or if we want God to show up as some still insist on putting it (so wrongly) – then we must start by offering Him a platform of praise and worship and invite the Holy Spirit to come and join us – to lead us where He wants to take us today.

Our praise and worship ushers us into the very Presence of God, and this is where and when we must be prepared to release our agenda completely. There has been a tendency in days gone by, where excessive but false manifestations of the presence of God has completely spoiled the meeting so we must be responsible for spotting these things and stopping them before they grieve the Spirit and He us leaves alone again.

We would normally have a pattern to follow if the Holy Spirit does not take over and we can follow that. For retaining interest and the element of surprise, we can vary this week by week but still we need to acknowledge that the Holy Spirit can take over at any time. During Praise and worship everyone may suddenly start singing in the Spirit. He may ‘invade’ our praying and suddenly everyone becomes aware that our prayers are being lifted to a higher plane. Our prayer language or our Spirit-gifted tongue may take over. We may even fall silent for a period of time – up to 40 minutes has been recorded. Spontaneous healings may suddenly occur to much excitement. The (golden) Glory Cloud of His Presence may even appear and then every one will fall dawn and anything may happen but it WILL be of the Holy Spirit and not of some demonic spirit.

Another thing I have been experiencing more and more in ministry and in my own church services and meetings is the necessity of catering for different languages. This may mean a public interpreter or individual ‘private’ interpreters for one or two guests for whom the meeting language is foreign to their understanding


Prayer
I believe the Lord is leading us away from the days of set prayers for set places in the service; for set days and occasions. Extempore prayer, led by the pastor or the prayer leader, followed by prayer from whoever feels led to pray aloud for all to agree with, is much more the order of the day these days.

Other Meetings and activities
One of my favourite comments here - If the church would only drop all its busy-ness and simply do God's Holy Spirit business - then we'd see some changes - maybe even revival.
We cannot escape the fact that the Word says to look after widows and orphans. The 1st century church went further, they shared everything and “gave to each as he needed and no–one was in want” How ever, the church has, since Victorian times, expanded its activities so much that often it has become much more of a social and glee club than what it was meant to be – the Church or Bride of Jesus Christ. We have outreaches, youth programs, mother/parent and toddler groups, coffee groups, tea groups, lunch groups, Old folks clubs, Missions, crusades, training programs – so many things that the Gospel is completely overlooked and underused.

As stated earlier, the Church has spent so many millions on these programs, for no obvious return, that we can genuinely struggle to explain so much busy-ness and so little result. I believe that only where we can reach out to help or give service to the local community; AND/OR where we support missionary/overseas Christian enterprise, is there plausibility in our spending time and effort. The only exception to this should be where the Lord specifically calls us to something and after much prayer for confirmation, we act according to His leading.

Thats it.

8 Christian Life Values

This section is all about how I think the Lord is calling His people to serve Him and to serve His Bride – the Church

Personal Holiness
In the world but NOT of the world
No more hypocrisy or jealousy or sexual sin or bad marriages
Available NOT aloof or separate
Welcoming, open, warm, loving
Tithing/giving etc

9 SO - WHAT is 21st Century Church
What it IS
What its NOT
Where next?