Buddy Hoffman wrote this article in 2009 entitled, "I know what I want from church":
"I do know exactly what I want in a church gathering.
-I want to hear someone open the Bible to a passage of Scripture that they have prayed over, meditated on, researched and marinated in. I want to hear what they learned, I want to hear what they discovered, I want to hear not just the results of their research, not just an academic lecture, but what they have heard from God. I want to know how this passage has impacted the church, not just this church, but the church historic.
-I want to know how this passage intersects with the context of the whole of Scripture – where does this fit in the meta-narrative of Scripture, the Kingdom of God. I want to know how this passage has convicted and comforted the people that have gone before me, the communion of the Saints. I want to know what this passage meant in it’s original context to the ones God gave it. What were their circumstances and how did this passage shape them?
-I want to sit with a Bible in my hand, and look into that Word and listen for that voice deep in my soul that speaks to me though His Word. I treasure that voice, it seldom screams, it most often whispers, but it is real as the skin I am in. I want to sit with a gathering of people who also long to hear that voice. I want to look around and see that same longing on their faces I feel in my heart. I want to look across the room and see people with old Bibles that are falling apart, new bibles with pages that are still stuck together, techies with Bibles on their iPhones, and people who are just trying to figure it out but sense there is something going on here that is more than a history lesson, more than a lecture, more than a pep talk. I want an encounter with God Himself.
-Then I want to this same person who has been marinating in this passage to challenge us all with how this connects to today and tomorrow. I want to hear what they have heard the Spirit speak; I want to hear that prophetic voice.
-Then I want some time to absorb what I have heard; I don’t want to just jump up and run out. I want a worship leader to take me deeper in my response to the Word, to the prompting of the Spirit of the Living God. I want time to repent – the word “repent” means “to change my mind.” I want my mind renewed; I need to reflect on what I have heard. I want the kind of worship leader that knows it’s more than a “set list” and leading the band; it’s turning people’s faces to the face of God. It’s giving God what God is seeking: worship.
Sometimes it’s as brief as a blink, sometimes it is more like melting a glacier, but I do not want to just run out. If worship is responding rightly to Revelation, then I want to worship. I do not mean just sing a song, although it might be a song, or it might be a prayer. It might be that I need to raise my hands in surrender and agreement. It might be I need to get on my knees, right then and there; it might mean I need to get on my face, not later but now, in humility and with abandon. And I hunger to gather with people who feel the freedom to do the same.
-I might need someone to pray with me. I want to be with people I can just turn to and say, “I need prayer” without feeling they are going to think I am strange. I love feeling someone’s hand on my shoulder and hearing them pray for me without even asking.
That is want I want. I really don’t care if it is in a Cathedral or a storefront. I don’t care if it is across the street or across town. It does not matter that much to me if the teacher is ordained, wearing a robe, in blue jeans, young or old. I really have no preference concerning the size of the church or the style of the service. What I want it to hear from God and gather with people who share that hunger. I want to see young people and old people, but real people. I want to be with people of different colors and cultures, but with a common craving for the heart of God. I want to hear the Word, I want to worship and I want to do it with a community that takes both seriously.
I know what I want."
Do you? Ask yourself and answer the questions individually. What you put in, is what you will receive in return.
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