Intercession

We've started examining spiritual gifts at The Foundry. We started with intercession because the corps has a good deal of strong intercessors. Its an amazing gift, and we were fortunate enough to have Stephanie teaching on it. Stephanie is a powerful intercessor that has been specifically focusing on that area of her giftings for a while now, and over the last week has had further teaching by the Spirit on how to pray. She highlighted a few areas, such as believing that God is able to do things, and also that He wants to do things. We also had some open discussion where we tossed around some of the things we've been learning. It was a good time, one that was fruitful.

Reassessing the Situation

After spending some time in prayer before the Foundry, we spent the remainder of the time taking a look at who we are, and why we meet together. First and foremost, we're there to worship God. We are very clear on that. And so far, that's been fantastic. We experience His presence every week. Beyond that, we are here for community. We firmly believe that community is the way we are supposed to live. Now, actually living that out can get messy, but we see throughout the Bible that its how God set it up. And it really is a better way to live. To engage in the lives of others instead of being lonely, to seek to meet the needs of others instead of hording for ourselves, it really is freeing. We're working towards being a place where people can be comfortable sharing who they really are, and being met with love.

We were challenged this week to move outside of ourselves and our comfort zones... to go out, meet people where they are, love them, and bring them in to community. It is a good, and right word. Its a big challenge, but its who we are called to be. The Foundry was not created to be a place where a few could worship in a way they feel comfortable, but for community. Its who we are as part of The Salvation Army. So lets live it out.