Don’t Be So Rigid That the Holy Spirit Has No Room

Churches love structure. We plan everything. We schedule every minute. We rehearse songs, prepare slides, organize transitions, and build services that run like a well-designed program.

None of that is wrong. Preparation matters. Leadership matters. Order matters. Scripture even tells us in 1 Corinthians 14:40 (LSB), “But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner.”

But there is a danger that can quietly creep into church life. Sometimes we become so committed to the program that we unintentionally push the Holy Spirit into the corner.

I was reminded of this yesterday.

We had to cancel an in-person gathering, but we still posted the sermon online. No packed room. No normal Sunday flow. Just acoustic worship and the Word of God shared digitally.

Later, I received an email from someone who does not even attend our church. He watched the message online and told me the sermon spoke directly to the struggles he and his wife are facing in their marriage. It hit him right where he needed it. To my knowledge, he has never watched a series before, but because of all the social media posts about cancelling and being online, he watched. 

That moment reminded me of something pastors/ leaders need to remember.

The Holy Spirit is not limited to our schedule.

He does not need our stage, our building, or our perfect order of service to work in someone’s life. God can take a message, send it across the internet, and land it in the heart of someone who needed to hear it that exact day.

Jesus said in John 3:8 (LSB), “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”

The Spirit moves where He wants.

Yet sometimes churches become so program-driven that we forget this. We get focused on finishing the order of service instead of paying attention to what God may be doing in the room.

• Sometimes someone needs prayer right then.
• Sometimes someone needs a moment to repent.
• Sometimes God is working in ways that do not fit neatly into the timeline we created earlier that week.

And if we are not careful, we can be so rigid that we move right past those moments.

I am not arguing for chaos. The church should not be disorderly. Leadership requires preparation and clarity. But we should never become so committed to the schedule that we lose sensitivity to the Spirit.

The early church did not gather around a polished program. They gathered around Scripture, fellowship, prayer, and the Holy Spirit's active work among them. Acts 2:42 (LSB) says, “And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

They were devoted to the Word, but they were also dependent on the Spirit.

Sometimes the best thing we can do as leaders is hold our plans loosely enough that God can interrupt them.

Because the truth is this.

God is always working beyond what we see.

He is reaching people who are not even in the room. He is speaking to hearts we did not know were listening. He is using moments we did not plan.

That email about a struggling marriage reminded me that the goal of the church is not to run a flawless program.

The goal is to faithfully preach the Word and create space for God to work in people’s lives.

So plan well. Prepare well. Lead well.

Just do not become so rigid that the Holy Spirit has to sit quietly in the corner while we run the meeting.

Sometimes a little flexibility is exactly what allows God to do the work we could never plan.

Soli Deo Gloria,

Pastor Jody