Cape First Church, now Discover Life Church, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, was founded in 1920. I assumed the pastorate in 1991. The church was 71 years old at that time and needed renewal right away.
Knowing the need for renewal, having an awareness of where you are and what you need, is always the first step to meeting the need. When I came to Cape, I asked the question, “Where is THE church in town?” In every community, there’s usually a church that’s happening—a powerful, Holy Spirit-filled church, and it certainly wasn’t ours! I’ll talk about that a little later.
So the first thing is to recognize we have a need for Holy Spirit renewal. Then we need to define it: What would it look like? What would be the results or fruit of it? If we’re going to have it, how will we know unless we first know what it will look like?
I define Holy Spirit renewal by three things:
- Renewed Vision. To bring clear, concise direction and vision of ministry into the church.
- Renewed Passion. Passion is the energy that makes it happen.
- Renewed Ministry. Seeing people saved, healed, engaged in ministry and growing disciples are the results I look for.
When we’ve recognized our need for renewal and defined what renewal should look like, then I believe it’s up to us to do what we can to facilitate the renewal. We can’t just lie around on the couch and expect Jesus to move in our churches. So what can we as pastors do to facilitate renewal?
Communicate the need. You may have a congregation that doesn’t have a clue that there’s a need.
Cultivate a hunger. Share reports of what God is doing in other places.
Call a regular corporate prayer and fasting time. Get people praying and fasting and believing because that’s the foundation for renewal.
Renewal starts with you, Pastor. It starts with your personal prayer and consistent study of God’s Word. Do what Habakkuk did. Faith comes by hearing, right? Habakkuk sat and listened. Of course, practicing His presence in the church services is important as well. Transforming a culture isn’t done in a day. It takes time.
Possibly the greatest fear that pastors face is the fear of people responding to decisions that will affect their culture. Let me give you an example: My church was 71 years old when I became pastor of it. The former pastor had been there 11 years. He was only the 12th pastor since the church was founded, and he died of cancer. The congregation watched him over a period of months go from preaching behind the pulpit to preaching from a wheelchair with people prophesying over him that the Lord would heal him. And then he died. It was a year later that I came. Church morale and faith were down. They were hurt. They had a fear of their culture changing with a new leader.
Legendary coach Lou Holtz said, “There’s never a right time to do a wrong thing.” For me, knowing the right decision to make removes the fear element. When a pastor is personally listening to God and receives a word from Him, it removes (at least for me) the major part of the fear factor.
I remember having someone say to me, “Pastor, if this is the direction you’re leading the church, I’m leaving. I’m not going with you.” I was able to reply graciously, “Thank you for the opportunity for me to serve your family, and I hope you find the right church as you move forward.” When you’re confident in the direction you’re going and you’ve got a word from God, and you’re not just trying something you saw at a conference somewhere, then you can reply like this. In this instance, I was convinced that vision doesn’t come from a congregation; it comes from the Holy Spirit. As we know and follow the direction God has for us, we can walk in confidence knowing God put us here to do this thing, and we’re going to follow Him!
Pastor if fear is impacting your faith today, I want to encourage you in three simple points to walk in boldness and confidence in the word God has given you.
- Develop confidence in God’s plan. The church I planted before coming to Cape was a boomer church. We didn’t have anything, but it was cutting edge with the latest music. When we came to Cape, they were still sitting down and singing out of hymnals. We knew God wanted us to make a major shift there. But we knew the vision wouldn’t be accomplished quickly.
We were able to lead our congregation in renewal because we first loved the people. For six months, all we did was love the people. We didn’t talk about where were going or how we were going to reach the world. And our love connected them to our hearts. We also fed the people. We shared faith-building preaching every Sunday, and the people grew. This made them easier to lead. When you have confidence is God’s plan, you have what it takes to walk it out to completion. So, Pastor, be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. If you want a Holy Spirit-move, you have to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and help your people receive a renewing touch from God.
- Develop confidence in our part. Getting people engaged in ministry and changing the culture in the church is important. But you first have to find the key to the combination lock of your church’s community to lead the people to renewal.
For my community, I begin by helping them know they matter to God. I help them to understand He needs them involved in fulfilling His dream, which is reaching everyone so that they can be saved. Then I teach and preach that that they were created on purpose for a purpose. There are no accidents here! And finally, we resource our people with training materials, motivation, and whatever else they need to be effective in fulfilling their purpose. These are the things that every one of us as pastors can do to fulfill our responsibility in bringing renewal to our churches.
- Develop confidence in God’s power. The great igniter for passion is experiencing God. I think that’s where we as pastors come in. Counseling is good, but one touch from the Master’s hand will change your life forever. Preaching is good. Prayer is essential. But it’s the touch from the Holy Spirit that transforms us. It turns the rudder of our life forever, for eternity.
As a pastor, my goal is to help my people get in position where they can receive from the Holy Spirit, but they have to make the decision. I do everything that I can do to help them get in position because I know for a fact that God can do more in a life in a split second than we can do in 50 years of preaching. Make sure your church has the atmosphere where God can move. Order is good. God is a God of order. But order cannot be our god. We need to be flexible and sensitive to the Holy Spirit. If it the middle of your sermon, God says to give an altar call, you need to follow God’s lead.
Pastor, as you fight the fear that impacts faith and tries to drown out Holy Spirit renewal, I hope that you will be proactive in connecting with life-giving people. Your resources are in your relationships. Significant Church is one of those resources that is important for you to have and use to its fullest.
In addition, I pray that you guard your heart from offense because it is a main tool the enemy uses to get you to miss your blessing. I know there can be some challenging people in the church. Never take your pain to the pulpit. Guard your heart from offense and stay clean.
And one last thing: plan your work, work your plan, and enjoy the journey. Swing for the fence! Just go ahead and swing out of your socks, and watch what God will do in you and your church! I believe in you, Pastor. I believe in God in you.
This blog was created using content from the webinar Leading Our Churches in Holy Spirit Renewal: When Fear Impacts Our Faith.
