Leave Some Wiggle Room

If the story of Pentecost in the second chapter of Acts is the model that answers the question, "How do we create and sustain a sacred community in a secular world?"  then there is a missing ingredient in most of our strategies for creating and starting new churches.  Before the Holy Spirit did the mighty work of wind and fire, the disciples practiced the discipline of waiting.  As churches are birthed the discipline of waiting is buried midst timetables, goals, and deadlines which often result in decisions determined by expediency instead of the slow deliberate movement of the divine directive. 

The disciples basically received one directive from Jesus before His ascension and that was to wait in Jerusalem.  They had trouble with the waiting, too, as they spent some of the time doing the administrative work of replacing Judas Iscariot.  But, other than this one thing, they did do the waiting thing.  Waiting on God to act requires patience, trust, and obedience.  Running ahead of God on any matter is usually viewed as a disastrous course, but as we get caught up in the work of creating a new church, expediency finally trumps waiting.

Too much of the planning in our own lives as well as in the life of the church leaves the Holy Spirit with very little wiggle room.  Perhaps, this is an expression of our desire to be in control.  Maybe it is expressive of not believing that the Spirit will get around to doing what we want Him to do.  Whatever the reason, waiting patiently for the Holy Spirit to make His will and purposes absolutely clear is a struggle for most of us.  The disciples did not really know what Jesus had in mind when He commanded them to wait, but they risked waiting, nonetheless.  Churches that have a hurried birth are coming into existence on a shaky foundation.