Following one of our services, when I was a pastor, a first-time visitor told me,“This church is not a Spirit-filled church.” I replied, “What do you mean by a Spirit-filled church?” She responded, “Well it is dead. No one raises their hands in worship. No one claps. People just stand there...lifeless. The Spirit is not present. It’s just a dead church.” Many times we hear people saying their church is a “Spirit-filled church”. Churches even market themselves as a “Spirit-filled church.” By this they mean their church has an emotionally moving praise and worship service facilitated by the praise band where “the Spirit is free to move” and where people outwardly worship God in song. |