As a pastor, I have become accustomed to trusting that the Holy Spirit will move. This trust becomes particularly strong on Saturday evenings when I am still working on my sermon. 

While this trust works well when I am forced to meet my own deadlines for Sunday morning worship, I have noticed that I struggle to figure out what trusting the Spirit means communally. Trusting the Spirit in my own life sounds good, but how does that translate into trusting that the Spirit is moving in my church community, among the people?

Trust takes time to build. One unique thing about the church is that we are placing trust in a community. We are trusting others not to harm us. We are trusting them with our personal lives and spiritual well-being. 

We also trust the church to make good decisions that will benefit the community and honor the divine. It takes a collective effort to discern how the Spirit is moving within the congregation and to trust that we are seeing the same thing.

When the COVID pandemic Began, the church I pastored had to change the ways we met together and served the larger community. One decision was to close our community center. 

The center was a form of outreach that served as a safe place for neighborhood families to have a free meal and build community on Friday evenings. Several of our people were passionate about the center and saw the difference it made in people’s lives. 

I was at the church for about eight months before the pandemic began, and I had not yet had the opportunity to build strong relationships with those who attended the community center.

Once things began to reopen, we had to decide if we would continue to put energy into the center. Many people were passionate about it reopening. I was skeptical. I did not know if it was the best use of our energy. I did not know if it would work out and if we would get the same buy-in. 

I let my doubts be known, but the people wanted to keep it going. Eventually the center reopened and began thriving again. The families returned. More volunteers began to sign up. Things went well. The Spirit was moving, but I was standing in the way because of my doubts.

I needed to trust that the people who were passionate about the community center could see how the Spirit was moving. I needed to trust those who had seen the Spirit work in their own lives and communities. 

There are times when skepticism is warranted. But even then, we need to be able to trust the communities of which we are a part. 

The church is not about me. It is not about the pastor or the church chair. It is about the community’s wholeness. It is about serving God together and trusting that the Spirit is moving. It is trusting that we are all doing our best to discern how God is calling us to act.

The Book of Acts has an amazing story about this. In Acts 10, Peter goes to see Cornelius, “a devout man who feared God” but a Gentile. Through an encounter with the divine, Peter and Cornelius meet, and Peter shares the good news of God’s inclusive love. The Holy Spirit falls upon all the people listening.

After this profound moment, Peter has to go and report what happened to the church at Jerusalem. He tells the apostles everything that has happened. I’m sure there was some skepticism, because the apostles had not seen this experience. They had not imagined the Holy Spirit would be given to Gentiles. 

Instead of standing in the way, they praised God’s goodness. 

“When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, ‘Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life’ ” (Acts 11:18). 

The apostles trusted what Peter had seen. They trusted that the Spirit was moving, not only within them but within the world.

Church is about trust. It is about trusting the people we are with. It is about trusting that God is moving. 

I have learned that I am not always the one who knows best. Sometimes the best thing to do is trust the Spirit and get out of the way.