It happened one Sunday morning in the church I was pastoring after praying at the close of the service.

I had a growing conviction that the Holy Spirit who had been present in our worship service didn’t depart after the closing prayer was prayed. Too often the spirit of the worship service can be easily lost and replaced by an atmosphere where the conversations after the service are often dominated by trivial pursuits.

At the close of the service that Sunday I continued, “I invite you all to stay after the church service for the MEETING AFTER THE MEETING. I have good news for you! The Holy Spirit is not departing and will still be at work helping us to live out our calling to one another as members of the Body of Christ as we love and pray and care for one another.”

Slowly the atmosphere after the services began to change. Gradually, people didn’t switch off. Rather they remained sensitive to the prompts of the Holy Spirit and didn’t necessarily gather in the groups that they would regularly meet in.

As a result of this transformation, people didn’t want to go home so early, and the pastoral care of the church was no longer the responsibility of the professionals. We were growing into the Body of Christ, “joined and held together by every supporting ligament, (which) grows and builds itself up in love, AS EACH PART DOES ITS WORK.” (Ephesians 4:10)

The Holy Spirit was at work as people gathered in groups to pray for one another. Others spoke words of encouragement to those in need, no one was left standing on their own and newcomers were warmly welcomed. All because we became aware of the fact that the Holy Spirit didn’t go home at the close of the church meeting and that there was a MEETING AFTER THE MEETING.

How wonderful it is to discover that a church is not an organisation made up of an association of individuals but “all of you together are Christ’s body and each of you are part of it.”
(1 Corinthians 12:27)

One final thought, I placed a sign above the door that people walked through on their way out of the church. The sign read, YOU ARE NOW ENTERING THE MISSION FIELD, to remind us that the same Holy Spirit who was living out the life of Jesus in us as we gathered after the church service, was accompanying us into the world to empower us to continue living out the life of Jesus everywhere we go.

And don’t forget……the Holy Spirit does not leave at the conclusion of the worship service. Remember, THE MEETING AFTER THE MEETING followed by YOU ARE NOW ENTERING THE MISSION FIELD!