PrintDo Churches Experience Seasons?
Yesterday I was reflecting on the seasons of life. My thinking was limited to the idea of every individual experiencing those changing times of growth, harvest, rest and inactivity. But then I began thinking about the larger picture.
Is it possible that Churches may also experience those kinds of seasons? I suspect that the answer is "Yes". Should Churches experience such changing seasons? Again, I believe the answer is "Yes". If this is true and what we see in nature is also true in the realm of the Spirit – the natural reflecting the supernatural, then there emerges some implications that I must take seriously.
First, I must recognize that it is foolish to think that any local Church must live in a constant state of harvest as though life was 'one-seasonal' and consisted of summer only. That is not to suggest that the local Church thinks about evangelism just once a year!! But it is to suggest that, while growth is the goal 24/7, we must recognize the rise and fall, the ebb and flow of the Spirit and become responsive to how the wind (the Spirit) is blowing at any given time.
Second, it is important to recognize into which season the Holy Spirit is taking us. If it is autumn, then that's a time when the old growth withers and falls. For a local church, that may mean letting go of "the way we've always done it". Jesus talked about pruning the branch that was fruitful so that it could be more fruitful. Is that to be our autumn experience?
If it's winter into which the Spirit is taking us, then the pruning experience may also be part of that season. Winter is not a season that is wasted by its seeming inactivity – despite the outward appearance of things. Of course, living in a perpetual winter (as some Churches seem to do) is a dangerous and destructive aberration. No, winter is a preparation for spring.
Spring brings the promise of new life, new growth, new possibilities. We can now begin to tend this new growth and prepare it for the coming season of harvest.
Where is my Church in the cycle of the seasons?
