GOD’S PRESENCE is our number one goal. We started in relationship with Him in thegarden of Eden and it will all end walking beside Him as His bride in relationship.While many Americans seem quite satisfied with weekend church as usual, a brief one-hour respite in their altogether hectic week, this is not enough for us.
Rather than continue to simply go through the motions of linear, pre-planned regimen church, with thirty minutes of this and twenty minutes of that, when we gather for worship, we prefer to give the Holy Spirit room to move and craft His direction and His message for each gathering, no matter how long that takes, or how many turns in the road. We believe a person’s greatest need is to meetGod…repeatedly!
The pollsters now say that among people who regularly attend worship services at Christian churches, 50% have not experienced God’s presence in their lives at any time in the past 12 months and maybe as many as 1/3 say they have never experienced His presence.
This is why we put such a premium on spending time in WAITING on our Heavenly Father in each of our services. We are constantly looking for Him, seeking His face, and forever lingering in that place that welcomes His presence.
Paying the price of remaining unencumbered by time constraints and pre-planned structures is worth it. We are learning to wait on Him in ways that really seem to attract and please Him. We want to know our Bridegroom now and not wait to some distance time frame! While most believer’s gatherings in the West are highly structured, both thematically and structurally, we believe Biblical evidence shows that the New Testament church was much more organic and free flowing.
At any of these worship times, you may see people ACTIVELY WORSHIPING by raising hands, bowing or laying prostrate on the floor, dancing in place or around the sanctuary, painting, waving banners, shouting, and even blowing the shofar. The celebration can be both party-like and deeply intimate. You may hear prayers, prophetic words, songs, words of instruction, encouragement, exhortation, and even poetry, all in keeping with I Corinthians 14:25-26. Before the service is over, the Holy Spirit always gives direction and freedom to minister healing, deliverance, impartation and empowerment.
We are constantly making room in our gatherings for the EXPERIMENTATION of something newer, something fresher, and something more in keeping with what the Father is showing us in this day. And it is okay that these new ways require some getting used to, some adaptations of old and new worship styles, and a great deal of stretching past our comfort zones. Tracking with the God of the unpredictable is often very uncomfortable to those of us from the more traditional backgrounds.
