When a Cloud Isn’t a Crowd, by Daniel Brown
Sincere spiritual leaders constitute a sort of crowd. Our sincere, almost desperate search for what God is doing can easily be swayed by the momentum of those around us. When several leaders are led in the same direction, or when an especially visible flow of grace manifests in the ministry of other leaders in the crowd, a movement develops. That activity can be very compelling to the rest of us who are a trifle unsure whether or not we have been correctly following our directions from God.
Have I Missed God?
We don’t want to miss God, so when many people seem sure about the direction they are to take, we are tempted to abandon the uncertain directions in our own hearts in order to follow the more certain-seeming directions that they are following. We who deal so often in the realm of the unseen long for substantial confirmation that we are on the right track. Thus, when tremendous physical evidence (numbers, manifestations, etc.) attends someone else’s ministry or style or city, it is hard to resist the momentum that draws us toward such tangible certainty.
If we are not careful, our desire to find what God wants for us individually can become confused in the midst of thousands upon thousands of other leaders who are asking the same question. Though spiritual leaders should be asking the same question, they will not necessarily be receiving the same answer. Jesus tells Peter that John’s assignment will be different than his: Peter’s focus should just be on following the instructions he hears for himself.
I want to be careful to side-step the usual discussion about various revivals, renewals, movements and cities that have captured so much interest among spiritual leaders. Rather than offering my limited assessment of what is or is not happening in other quarters, I want to focus on the subtle and dangerous pressures that plague leaders, like me, who may be waiting with the crowd in the same large room to have our passports checked.
I might be in a waiting line mostly made up of people who arrived on a different flight than mine, and maybe the three travelers in front of me are all going to Atlanta. But that shouldn’t cause me to change my travel plans. It’s fun to swap stories about what we’ve seen on our trips, and I might even long one day to visit where others have traveled. But spiritual leaders aren’t traveling without itineraries: God has sent us on various trips with particular destinations in mind. We aren’t really free to go wherever we want to go.
When I arrived back at San Jose, CA I was met by two wonderful members of my church who had so much to tell me about their ministry dreams. It confirmed my sense of direction for our church that has nothing to do with the large ministry rivers that are capturing so much attention. I’m excited about where God is taking us, but I am even more thrilled to be going there with the people who call me pastor. If I went to Atlanta with those guys in the Customs line, who would have flown to San Jose to hear this couple’s ministry dreams?
How is God Moving?
Right now in the worldwide Body of Christ, there are numerous large-scale ministry orientations—not to mention hundreds of doctrinal and denominational groupings. Godly men and women espouse widely divergent ministry priorities, from racial reconciliation to prison reform, from Toronto-ish renewal to spiritual mapping. There are those who think cell groups are the answer, those who urge us to more prayer, more activism, more worship, more friendship evangelism, and more discipleship. Concern for the unborn, relations with Israel and men’s ministries are priorities for different leaders and Christian groups.
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