"Control" vs. "Seeing Over"
Usually the first thing the Church tries to do is “control” the new movement. After decades of extreme “control” causing the Dark Ages, the Spirit of God was penetrating the darkness with its Light. When the Reformation Age burst forth, the Church opposed it and tried to control it. When prayer and praise small groups flourished in the ‘70’s, the church tried to control it. When experiencing the prophetic and apostolic movements, I have seen strong leadership use control. Control can stop the “weirdness” of a movement, but it also quenches the Holy Spirit’s control. We try to control the situation rather than letting God do it. The Bible warns to “quench not the Holy Spirit”, yet how is order to be maintained.
As we look at each of the five fold, evangelist, pastor/shepherd, teacher, prophet, and apostle, we will feel this tension between newness, creativity, messiness, and freedom versus order and control.
On the day of Pentecost, the day the Church received the power of the Rhema Word, the active living word, that paralleled the truths of the Logos Word, the written Word, it came in an unexpectant form: Tongues of fire, foreign languages spoken by people who knew not what they were saying, and the accusation that these believers were drunk at mid-day. It happened in an upper room, not in the Temple itself, among common folk, not among the Pharisees and Sadducees and leaders of the Sanhedrin, and the established religion of the time tried to “control” it arresting the apostles, warning them and beating them, later sending Saul to persecute them, etc.
One of the concepts we will have to understand is how “overseers” are to “see-over” their sphere of influence, not control it. The question will always be, “Who is in control?” Is the Holy Spirit in control? If so, then as a Church, as a personal believer in Jesus Christ, let’s not oppose it. Why do we want to take the “control” away from God? Can we trust God’s precious Holy Spirit? If we can trust the Holy Spirit, then why do we work so hard to take His control away for the sake of our agenda, to bring the situation back to what we think is normal, acceptable?