Classis, Willard, and the Holy Spirit Conference

The power of classis - the strategic intersection between congregations and denomination. If you’ve been reading the CLASSIS network, you’ve already heard the invitation to consider the vital importance of classis renewal. So why wouldn’t it be one of the places we’d expect the Holy Spirit to be at work reforming the CRC? A few extra minutes designed to catch the breeze wouldn’t be amiss, right?

In a recent blog I recommended a book focussed on growing the church by the power of the Holy Spirit. Now you might wonder what other power there would be by which to grow the church! OK, maybe boringly obvious, I admit. But examining the HOW of that process might be vital for the CRC. Maybe we’ve grown a little hard of hearing in our maturity. Maybe we are a bit too afraid of taking risks. So a fresh attention to the Spirit is appropriate I’d say. Both the teaching about him AND the listening and obeying part.

So how appropriate that we are on our way to our second prayer summit! And how appropriate that between now and then we have the opportunity to attend a conference on “Growing the Church in the Power of the Holy Spirit”! Thanks to the Great Lakes region of Home Missions, this conference (scheduled for March 11-15) is open to anyone. See the website to register.

If this is a topic that fills your sails, I suggest you take a look at Dallas Willard’s Hearing God. Willard writes as well and as biblically as anyone I know on the topic of Christ being formed in us (Gal 4:19), and I’m finding this book to be a great help in preparing for the conference on the work of the Holy Spirit.

The conference is only a month or so away, and the Prayer Summit is only a month after that. Spring meetings of classis are upon us, and the issues flowing onto synod’s agenda are many and important. Each of us has her own arena of responsibility in this mix, and we know busyness is the enemy of prayer. But as you row frantically, keep the sails spread for the unpredictable winds of renewal and refreshment. And take time to breathe the fresh air.