“Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness . . .” Isaiah 43:19

For the past 100 years God the Holy Spirit has been quietly but ambitiously urging people just like you to the front and center for His eternal redemptive activity.

Waiting rooms are not known for their charm but now and then they yield an encounter or a magazine article that makes the wait memorable. A couple of years ago at a Tulsa clinic I was skimming an article on the Catholic Church which referenced a 1969 prophecy by Joseph Ratzinger, who was later elected Pope Benedict XVI. Speaking on German radio during the turbulent environment of the late 1960’s, here’s some of how he envisioned the church of the future:

“A church will emerge tomorrow (that) will be small, and to a large extent, will have to start from the beginning. She will no longer be able to fill many of the buildings created in her period of splendor . . . she will present herself much more as a community of volunteers . . . as a small community she will demand much more from the initiative of each of her members and she will certainly acknowledge new forms of ministry and will raise up to the priesthood proven Christians who have other jobs . . . It will make her poor and a church of the little people. All this will require time. The process will be slow and painful”

I believe Ratzinger was speaking by the Spirit of God. Although he was primarily referencing Roman Catholicism, the need for these important changes easily generalizes to most institutions within Christianity. His vision embodies the sentiments of hundreds of Christians I have spoken with personally in the past 40 years, each of them hearing in their spirit a clear and quiet call to a Christ-centered faith which is defined, demonstrated, and delivered by the saints.

Since the Pentecostal movement began roughly 100 years ago, the worldwide activities of the Holy Spirit have included a quietly consistent emphasis on getting the work of ministry back into the hands of the people. That is the purpose of the Spirit Baptism; to dynamically equip the saints to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, several generations can pass on before the message is actually heard, embraced, and acted on.

Isn’t it strange that no matter how profoundly the Spirit of the Lord moves upon a population, dominant personalities within it invariably organize the movement into institutions which assign the ministry back again to a handful of professionals. We are presently at the outer edges of another of those cycles.

I’m excited, though, because I’m seeing glimpses of things Jeanie and I saw in the 1960’s, but with an important difference. Then the Spirit was moving powerfully through every stream of Christianity, from Catholics to Adventists, from Holiness groups to Anglicans; there were few exceptions. That period became widely known as the ‘charismatic movement.’

Although the most publicized characteristic of that period was the renewal of ‘tongues’ and the gifts of the Spirit, the equally important benefit of that spiritual dynamic was a wide distribution of ministry activity among ordinary believers! Folks were praying for each other, laying hands on the sick, speaking the word of God boldly, and taking their daily cues from the Holy Spirit. The ministry of Jesus was being replicated in homes, store fronts, offices, and factories, touching multitudes the churches would have never encountered.

But there is a difference in the way this generation is responding to the work of the Spirit among them, and indeed, there is a different administration of the Spirit around them. These young believers are ministering in faith and boldness without the spiritual inertia of a worldwide movement. They’re just acting on the Word of God and the leading and insight the Spirit provides.

But just as significant is their understanding of the church as an organism, not an organization. Younger Christians seem to be geared toward a more spontaneous response to God and his people. And their relationship to the organized church is respectful and appreciative but without a constraint to commit their life and ministry there. That is an important and strategic freedom.

When we began teaching ‘You Are the Plan’ last year, it was a simple way of framing the truth that God “has committed to us (the saints) the ministry of reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ . .” 2 Cor 5:19 Will this be the generation that really grasps the great truths of Matthew 5; “You are the salt of the earth . . . You are the light of the world?”

Thank God for the gifts of Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, and Pastor/teachers (Eph. 4:11), but these gifts should not find their expression only within organized Christianity! God forbid they should be so confined! Jeanie and I can identify some of these ministry gifts within our modest home gatherings.

There is no need to create a platform for the ministry gifts that Jesus Himself has placed in the earth. (Eph 4:7-10) “God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.” (1 Cor 12:18) “In the ministry” is not a career track but a condition of mind and heart produced by the Spirit. And He knows exactly where these folks belong; mostly among the unbelievers!

Cardinal Ratzinger was right; change will take time. But we can begin with a group of folks who actually believe they have been equipped by God and that a community of ‘little people’ doing good things is precisely who Jesus spoke about in the Sermon on the Mount!

You are not a mere statistic among the masses of the professing faithful. You are Jim, or Betty, or Wanda, or Richard . . . real people in a real relation to the living God. It will be wonderful to see Jesus’ love and power demonstrated through you, day to day, under the Holy Spirit’s leadership!

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8) Why, we can walk out that program with just our friends and family, our prayers and our Bibles. Don’t you think so? How you respond will definitely shape the future.

Truth is, God is preparing us for what Paul was always praying for the churches, “that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Let that soak in deeply! Since that is where we’re headed, our entire life and service for Jesus may always confidently rest on “Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.”