Preach Magazine Issue 3 - Preaching and the Holy Spirit | Page 27

FEATURE

CHRISTIANS ARE NOT TO
BELIEVE OR PRACTICE
HOLY SPIRIT POSSESSION.

27

Since the Church began
there has been a tension
in worship between
being open to the Spirit
on the one hand and
being well-organised
and prepared on the
other. Today those of
us planning worship
services still ask: how
can we be open to the
Spirit whilst being wellplanned and produced?
Are those two dynamics
mutually exclusive?

M

y own denomination, The
Association of Vineyard
Churches, has to regularly
revisit this issue. Sometimes
our worship strays too far into
esoteric expressions that people find
hard to understand and access. Other
times we end up straying too far into
programming and planning, and
find that we are missing out on an
experience of the Spirit.
Of course this all depends on our
definitions; what are the ‘all things’
of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:1) and
what does ‘decently and in order’ (1
Corinthians 14:40, NRSV) mean? 1
Corinthians 14 provides key guidance
for us on how the Spirit interacts with
our planned worship activities.

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