A Creative Church Concept —
Apply the First Amendment of the US Constitution
(the Freedom of Speech) to church services.
At The Salvation Army Berry Street everyday people are free to obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit during the meeting, and to show and tell what God has done. — The results are amazing and life-transforming!
Sundays at 10:45 am. — 225 Berry Street, Nashville, TN 37207.
1) Unrehearsed, heart-felt, Spirit-prompted words connect hearts and ignite spiritual fires.*
2) Rehearsed, studied, formalized words leave hearts unconnected and minds muted; and promptly depart the human memory.
* Light your fire! Experience #1 with us @ The Salvation Army Berry Street, 225 Berry Street, Nashville Tennessee, 37207 on Sunday mornings @ 10:45.
Bible teaching and preaching are readily available when we are alone — through CDs, YouTube, radio, ministry web sites, apps, television, and even books. However, sharing the blessings and concerns on our heart, face-to-face with other believers, cannot be done alone.
Perhaps we should allow people the time and opportunity in church meetings to share testimonies, words of encouragement, needs, gifts of the Spirit, Scriptures, prayers, etc. with one another. (They can’t get that on their on, so if they don’t get it in church meetings, they will miss out on the life-transforming ministry of the body of Christ to one another.)
God’s love we discover
When we minister to one another.
Church is not sitting in a pew,
It’s doing what we do . . .
One anothering; we’re one anothering.
Singing songs to one another;
Confessing to each other;
Encouraging one another;
Saying prayers for each other;
When we show compassion to one another;
We discover a sister or a brother;
We lay hands on one another and pray;
We share God’s word with each other today;
We’re one anothering!
Information: A message prepared and delivered by a mind, reaches a mind. Inspiration: The testimony of a burning heart reaches a heart.
God is looking for a burning heart; not for doctrinal charts.
“I would rather teach one man to pray than ten men to preach.” –Charles Spurgeon
— “Preaching” In Early Salvation Army Meetings —
“William Booth clearly favored short sermons, even a serious of short sermons interspersed with singing and prayers. He preferred sermons that were mainly exhortations, free of theological or doctrinal arguments . . . The ‘parcel’ sermon — delivering choice items throughout the meeting — was described by William Corbridge in the following manner: ‘I believe,’ he stated, ‘in preaching a sermon sometimes, but not of the ordinary kind. Deal out the medicine in nice doses, and let there be a mixture all the way through (the meeting) — not one thing continually.'” –R.G. Moyles (Come Join Our Army, Crest Books, USA.)
Passive or participatory church? Rest or revival?
Is church passive or is it participatory?
Is it structured or is it Spirit-led?
Is it forced or is it flowing?
Is it lifeless or is it lively?
Is it dull or is it daring?
(Read the Book of Acts and see for yourself. Also check out 1 Corinthians 14:26.)
Experience participatory church in action at The Salvation Army Berry Street in Nashville, TN:
Sunday mornings at 10:45 @ 225 Berry St., 37207.
Church without the real presence of the living, resurrected Jesus Christ is like an unplugged blender. It looks nice, but it’s not going to produce any smoothies.
We set our clocks back one hour last night.
However, let’s don’t just turn the clock back one hour . . .
Let’s go all out (whole hog)
And turn it back about 1,975 years
To another Pentecost —
A fresh and mighty move of God
Like in the Book of Acts in the New Testament!
William Booth, co-founder of The Salvation Army
Wrote this prayer/song:
“Look down and see this waiting host,
And send the promised Holy Ghost;
We need another Pentecost!
Send the fire today!”
I was reading the ancient prophet, Jeremiah tonight and he pointed out 4 things about my heart:
* It is deceitful — it will trick me.
* It is stubborn.
* It is evil.
* It is engraved with sin.
I can choose to follow my own heart
Or I can follow “the Lord, the spring of living water.”
(See Jeremiah 16 & 17)
Poor circulation?
The body of Christ is made of many different people and they all need essential nutrients supplied by the flow of the Holy Spirit. Poor Holy Spirit circulation is reduced or limited flow in and to God’s people. Left untreated, poor Holy Spirit circulation may lead to many spiritual diseases and complications such as passivity, compromise, hardening of the heart, loss of spiritual drive, self-destructive behaviors, pride, and even spiritual death.
How healthy is the Holy Spirit circulation in your personal life and also in the church service you attend? Alive with the excitement of the Spirit’s rushing whitewater (living water)? Or dry, dull, and stagnant?
Cure for poor circulation:
What if every Christ-follower was seen as equal to every other believer and as having a ministry both to other believers and to the world at large?
And what if every person who attends a church meeting was allowed to openly share testimonies, encouraging words, Scriptures, prayer requests, gifts of the spirit, and prayers; as the Spirit leads him/her?
That’s what they did in the Bible. Check out 1 Corinthians 14:26.
If you would like to see this in action, visit us at The Salvation Army Berry Street on Sundays at 225 Berry St., Nashville, 37207 at 10:45 am.
When one phase of human life is considered to be disposable and worthless, it devalues all human life and contributes to the violence in our society.
