You want what’s best for your church. This reason is why you pray for it and attend each Sunday. It’s also why you’d like to see your church grow.
Unfortunately, your church also has some disillusioned church members in its body. You may not know what to do or say to them. You may even be tempted to leave it to your pastor to deal with them.
Ignoring these church members won’t work. If you want a spirit-filled church (one that emphasizes spiritual gifts and has an authentic, emotional worship ‘encounter), you’re going to have to help bring this around. You need to help your pastor build the church into how you think it should look.
What the Bible Says a Spirit-Filled Church Looks Like
Your pastor wants to lead a church wherein God’s Spirit is working. Of course, you want to be a part of such a church as well. All of us want to belong to a church where we witness and experience supernatural life changes. So, how does a spirit-filled church look?
Some of the characteristics of a spirit-filled church include:
- Being a place that exalts Christ in Word, song, and deed
- Having an authentic passion for God’s Word
- Showing intentionality in unity (Ephesians 4:1-4) despite the sacrifice it takes to do so
- Being deliberately dependent on God (1 Corinthians 2:1-4) instead of our competencies, resources, and experiences.
- Persisting in prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
- Depending on supernatural discernment (1 Corinthians 2:9-13) instead of human wisdom, even when it isn’t measurable.
- Making sin feel uncomfortable (Ephesians 2:19-22) and yet showing the grace of forgiveness simultaneously.
The Importance of a Spirit-Filled Church
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit
~ Ephesians 5:18
Knowing what a spirit-filled church looks like isn’t enough. We need to prayerfully seek to exemplify these things in our church. While this will help us not have disillusioned church members, there are many other reasons why we should want this too. We need to:
- Be convicted of the fact that we need the Holy Spirit’s help so we can trust God in difficult times (John 14:26)
- Understand that God gave us His Spirit so that we can understand everything about Him (1 Corinthians 2:11 – 12)
- Ask for the Holy Spirit’s presence (Exodus 33:15, 1 Corinthians 12:7), fruit (Galatians 5:22-23), power (Galatians 3:1-3, Romans 8:9-11), and holiness (2 Corinthians 3:17-18) to fill our lives regardless of how long it takes
- Learn to appreciate and value our church family
Why it Hurts Your Pastor’s Heart When He Sees Disillusioned Church Members
When your pastor sees that they have disillusioned church members in their midst, it deeply troubles their heart. Frequently they’ll even feel as though these members have rejected them personally. The reason is that they’ve developed relationships with these church members. They’ve deeply loved, cared for, and defended them.
Disillusioned church members frequently leave their church abruptly. This departure leaves your pastor feeling grief as they ponder what happened. After all, they don’t want to see other church members also leaving their church. At the same time, they must also show concern for the morale of those who are still part of his church.
What We Should Learn From This
Our pastor needs our support. They need us to pray for God to help our church come together to grow in faith and serve in love. We can’t afford not to offer them our support here.
Instead of leaving it up to your pastor to handle disillusioned church members, you should be helping them. Spend time in the Word seeking God’s will for you in your church. May the Holy Spirit grant you discernment in helping your pastor in this regard.
