Who Is In Charge?

Control can be a major issue in the local church. One of the major sources of conflict in the church is “Who is in charge here?”. Sometimes we pastors can be control freaks. Or it can be the big donors in the church. Sometimes it is the established members. I was told one time, “Preacher, we were here before you came, and we will be here when you are gone!” I saw a pastor disappear one time for moving the UMW table without permission.

Carnal strongholds like religion, pride, sedition, parochialism, judgment, and fear can drain and distract a church from its vision and purpose.

I believe we can resolve these control issues with patterns of His Presence. My thesis is to invite the Presence of God in as many ways as possible to undo the carnal and establish His Presence as a Divine Stronghold. Simply put, the church functions better when God is in charge.

Dr. Terry Teykl

—- Divine Strongholds Book —-

The companion book to the Divine Strongholds is the Presence Based Church. The theme of this book is to contrast the people-based church with the Presence Based Church. Or taking an illustration from Luke 10 you can have the Martha (Stewart) Church or the Mary Church. Martha is busy with the work of the Lord and Mary is concerned for the Lord of the work.

For some churches, the question is “How can we attract more people?” whereas the crucial question is “How can we attract more of His Presence?”. The dilemma, worship attracts more of His Presence but 20 minutes of worship on Sunday morning every seven days leave us Presence deprived.

Therefore, God is raising up a generation of Levites to bring better, more passionate and creative worship to remedy the paltriness of our worship. Who are they in the Bible? What are their duties? How are they stationed in the church to have the most impact?