or, Why Does Our European Thinking Limit Our Ministry?
Compartmentalisation is a very long word – can you spell, it?
I’ve often used the notion of compartmentalism to explain the difference between Hebraic thought and the thinking of our Greco-Roman ancestors – well, that is if you’re European, or have been raised in a predominately Western society.
In a world where words and their definitions can almost be made up, I suddenly find myself very twenty-first century in my use of language. Compartmentalisation is actually a recognised psychological defence mechanism. It’s when someone has thoughts and feelings that seem to conflict, these thoughts are kept separated or isolated from each other in the patient’s mind. How can that married man and loving father of two carry on his clandestine affair? His mistress dares to dream of a future together. When the notion hasn’t even crossed his mind. Obviously, he has to lie, he may even need to draw others into his deception – but how does he sleep at night? Soundly, because the undeniable reality of his moral conflicts sleep in separate rooms. They say our brain is seriously underused, so now you know how some people are choosing to use that spare space. I joke, of course, I’m mixing my disciplines, there’s a difference between cognitive brain capacity and borderline psychopathic behaviour!
The Bible is written with a corporate mindset. We often miss this in our increasingly individualist world, and especially within certain streams of Evangelicalism with its valid and important emphasis on personal salvation, but this can then skew God’s corporate election into some divine lottery of who’s in and who’s out. Simple question: is the plural language of the Lord’s Prayer there because Jesus was talking to a group of people, or did He intend us, personally and privately behind a closed door, to pray for each other - as a community? Our Father, our daily bread, forgive us our sins… How does that change your perspective?
Similarly, Hebraic thinking was holistic. Though the apostle Paul could distinguish body, soul and spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23), he also knew our divinely created beings could not be so easily divided. It’s obvious, when you’re running a temperature, you’re not going to be feeling at your best. In addition to that obvious example, there’s medical evidence that can find direct correlation between our mental health and our physical wellbeing. We perhaps all know someone struggling with depression finding it almost impossible to find the motivation to physically get out bed, to wash and maintain a level of personal hygiene. I know people who are clinically depressed who choose to lose themselves in sport and other physical activities to rise above their often-unhelpful mental thoughts. Then, sadly, once they get a sport’s injury, which curbs their ability to exercise, the depression returns with a vengeance. Our spiritual gauge is wired into our being too. It’s not surprising you don’t want to read your Bible or listen to a Christian podcast, when you’re running a temperature. You’re not backsliding, you’re fighting off a serious bout of COVID!
At school, for probably very sensible and efficient reasons, we received our secondary education around well-defined subjects, often presented by different and appropriately trained teachers. The night before a history exam, you don’t expect anyone to be revising from their physics notes. And now, you’re all trying to find an example to prove me wrong. Well, you should be able to succeed. Holistic thinking, Hebrew thinking, Bible thinking, dare I say, the very ‘mind of Christ’ suggests everything joins up. In which century did Sir Isaac Newton propose his laws of motion?
The most extreme example of compartmentalising in our lives is the one I referenced earlier, within a Christian context we’d call it – hypocrisy. I’m not talking specifically about the deception required for infidelity, I’m talking about putting on a ‘Sunday-face’; when our words and actions the rest of the week don’t quite match the godliness we’re seeking to project at church. Again, hypocrisy is probably too strong a term, I’m picturing the committed Evangelical believer, who could still hold their own in a Sunday School quiz, but who rarely opens their Bible from one Sunday to the next. I say I’m picturing them, because I know these people who have confessed as much to me during my many years of pastoral ministry.
Church, family, work, these are three very different arenas, but how different are you in each of them? Obviously, your job changes, your function changes, your responsibilities change, but what of your values, ethics, language, and personal beliefs?
Anyway, these are just broad brushstrokes to clarify the topic. My present concern, as I review previous teaching notes and handouts, is how our spirituality can be placed, almost unknowingly, into different compartments, thus rendering us inefficient in our Christian walk.
Most of the prayer meetings I’ve attended default to presenting petitioning prayers. That means, we’re generally always asking God for stuff. I still vividly remember one church prayer meeting in South London, when I was reprimanded afterwards by an older couple for singing too many songs at the beginning of the meeting, which they thought led to less time for actual praying. They were upset. I was livid! You may well have been singing songs, I was praying and encountering the Living God! Was the reply I didn’t give. I did say I saw praise as an act of prayer, but perhaps some introductory explanation along with some balance was needed in the future. I was young, I caved. But decades later, when rather conservative Christians are present, I sense those ‘looks’ that almost indignation, we’re here to pray not sing. The best prayer meetings I’ve ever been too have consisted almost entirely of praise, with moments of intercession, sword-of-the-Spirit Scriptures and prophetic utterances weaved into the mix without any pre-planned agenda, accept our wholehearted desire for the things that break God’s heart – to break ours.
I quite like the alliteration of Prayer, Praise & Prophecy. I’ve used this threefold agenda to either title or subtitle various worship events. When stated up front on the literature, it’s clear, whatever your personal bias or definitions, ALL THREE are going down at this event! But sadly, it’s an example of compartmentalisation.
We are so used to defining the word prayer in such a narrow way, we then have to deliberately embrace the other two components. As already mentioned, when we ‘turn to prayer’ in a small group setting, we’re expecting to receive personal requests for God’s help, intervention, and favour. Most of us reading this blog probably knows that prayer can also involve thanksgiving and also listening. The curse of compartmentalisation kicks in, because even though we know something of the breadth of prayer, we rarely help to facilitate such a broader prayerful environment. There are exceptions, we are given the creative mandate to develop an interesting and hopefully interactive prayer event or prayer space. My question is simple, all that effort, all that creativity, how many of those ideas are incorporated into the local church’s everyday approach to prayer? It smells like compartmentalisation when the creative is only considered as a special event item.
For thirty years I’ve taught on the subject of the New Testament gift of prophecy. Along the way these sessions have acquired interactive components. Mini sections that over the years have become known as times of prophetic activation or prophetic activation workshops. In the vast majority of settings, we see 100% of the delegates prophesying, and many for the first time. Do they do it again? Yes, the next time they attend a prophetic activation session. Yes, if directly encouraged to do so. Yes, on rare occasions, in the right environment, they may hesitantly bring a ‘word’. Though often, when I’m present or someone else ‘prophetically minded’ is present and will understand what’s going on.
Let’s return momentarily to our small midweek Bible study. Oh, I’ve just thought of another question. Please forgive me, this is going to add to the overall word count.
In your small group, does the prayer time occur after the Bible study, and is it purposely linked to the application of the Scriptures you’ve just been discussing? Or is the weekly Bible study another example of a stand alone spiritual compartment?
Now, suddenly even more questions come to mind.
Is your weekly group Bible study part of a larger ongoing discipleship programme aimed at equipping and training every believer in Christian truths and ministry skills? If not, then is it a particular study series meeting the presenting needs of the specific small group you’re apart of? I only ask because it makes sense, though I suggest it’s neither, it’s simply fulfilling some well-intended Christian obligation, while sadly being an ineffective use of fellowship – the result, I suggest, of Greco-Roman compartmentalisation.
Obviously, that’s just a theory. You can ponder the actual answers to those questions, with the rest of the group, the next time you meet.
I suggest that most Charismatic Christians know that praise is an act of prayer. Especially if you stop referring to it as ‘singing songs’! We may well know this, but we still default, in most settings, to petitioning prayers. We traditionally pray for those who have presented a need. Terrible! What of those who don’t have a specific need to present – when do they get prayed for?
I once ran a midweek small group where I deliberately placed praise and prophecy on the weekly agenda. Obviously, we didn't stop personal prayer requests being brought to the group's attention, but we sought to pray for everyone, request or no request, simply by using the gift of prophecy. Everyone, every week? No, of course not, due to time restraints. That's where the place of praise kicks in, where celebration would flow into adoration and adoration into a place of increased intimacy and the receiving of timely words for specific people, thus supernaturally initiating a time of prayer-ministry.
Praise is prayer. Prophecy is prayer. It is? Well, prayer is communication with God, including listening and giving God the opportunity to commune with us. If prophecy, in its simplest form, is sharing something you believe God has brought to mind. Then all genuine prophecy must consist of communication with God, therefore, prophecy is prayer. For some of us, and that’s my vague shoutout to a small band of true and Spirit-led worshippers I’ve had the absolute joy to hangout with over the last twenty years or so, who exercise the New Testament gift of prophecy as their default prayer setting. But they’re the minority and the exception. I’m concerned, especially if we accept the title or branding of being charismatic, why the gift we’re told explicitly to eagerly desire (1 Corinthians 14:1), is rarely a priority when we are involved in public ministry or simply seeking to participate in a small group meeting?
Don’t let tradition and presumed expectations limit your life with God, and how you express the privilege of being a personal of friend of Jesus, as well as being a sacred space where the Holy Spirit chooses to reside. Don’t play down or ignore the blessings of the Cross and eclipse them with some highly insulting blasphemous false humility. Politely, I could say to you, please stop placing limits on ministry times in order to conform to past traditions and the expected norm. Biblically, I say and urge you, don’t grieve the Spirit of God, or quench His presence, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.
2024 - we’ve only just begun. To you dear friends, the glorious saints, assured of your identity in the peace and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the promises of His unfailing Father, in these coming weeks, I pray – make it count. Amen.
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