Circuit Praise

Wow! I had the opportunity to preach at the twice monthly Sunday evening worship Circuit Praise. It rotates churches and last night was at Heaton Park Methodist Church. I felt like I was experiencing Pentecost. Our worship leader (a candidate for ministry here) led us powerfully. It was truly a Spirit-led service in that the band was prepared to play certain songs and there was to be a sermon time but in and through it the worship leader guided according to the movement of the Spirit. Between songs, someone from the congregation would spontaneously recite a psalm. Another would stand and speak as he or she felt led. I preached from John 2, Jesus' cleansing from the temple. It became a "family chat" among Methodist Christians as we talked about the state of the church and the urgency of the moment. I feel that perhaps Jesus' anger should be our own - maybe we need to get righteously upset about the declining state of the church and do like Jesus and intervene. Jesus in this passage both cared for and showed respect for the temple and the common people who were being blocked from accessing it, but simultaneously he reminded us that God is not first about the temple, for that could be torn down and raised up again in 3 days - most importantly, Jesus is the temple of God. It is about Jesus.
So, we went into a time of prayer, action prayer - how can we be interventionists at a time of crisis for the church? How do we keep the focus of our ministry about Jesus first and not about our church buildings?
People prayed about what God was calling them to do specifically. Teaching, praying, unlocking the doors, giving generously, communicating to the community what the church is all about, being in relationship with young adults. People offered themselves, and we sang more and more. The service all together lasted over 2 hours. People lingered and talked and shared. We talked about ministry and where to go from here. The entire time felt like Pentecost revival. We covenanted to pray for our churches, British and American and for the need for revival in our churches and our commitment to be active parts of that revival.
I met some wonderful people and felt like God did something great in and among us Sunday night. I will continue to pray about this revival.