Handling the Tension

Recently I have had the opportunity to worship in a new church start-up.  It has been interesting and inspiring.  Laying all the church politics aside, it is exciting to experience the freshness of something new being created.  On the Sundays I have been present, the place has been full, the worship has been lively, more traditional than trendy, and there is a kind of contagious spirit in the air.  To be there is to be aware that the Holy Spirit is at work in this new creation.   

While there are no doubt many questions such a church must face as it goes forward, there are a couple of ones that stand alongside each other.  How does a church maintain that fresh faith atmosphere?  The second stand alongside the first question is how does such a church avoid becoming institutionalized?  To become institutionalized is to turn into a church that ends up being more about building buildings, bigger budgets, and larger memberships than it is about sharing faith in a contagious way.  When the church becomes institutionalized, the Spirit is quenched since the primary goal of the church becomes maintaining and preserving the institution.    

Perhaps, the important word in this equation filled with so much tension is balance. How do we keep the ball of fresh faith and the ball of providing the physical needs of the community in the air at the same time?  The church has suffered when one of these concerns becomes paramount over the other.  Maybe there is an answer to living with the tension within dependence on the Holy Spirit.  I hope and pray such is true.  What I have seen and been a part of as a pastor for nearly forty years convinces me that when such matters are left solely in our hands, the church is in trouble.