The stability of the Church is threatened when people seek new ways to be spiritual as individuals. Is it possible that the Spirit of God is moving, but the Church can't see it?
Under the direction of the Holy Spirit, individual devotion to God and His mission need not be in opposition to Church Leadership unless, churches are operating from a position of fear. Online church services could be the answer.
The Spirit of God can move spiritual individuals. If the majority of the church community has been moved toward individual spirituality... then the church as a community is not working with the Spirit of God.
Solitude is a gift from God, isolation is a gift from Satan. This is a nice platitude, but this is a prime example of the self serving attitude held by many in Church Leadership. It's in the church's best interest to say, "There is no faster way to render the church community ineffective than to isolate its members."
Church attendance in United States has been on a steep decline for decades. Seems as if, more and more people are seeking new ways to be spiritual as individuals, which threatens the stability of the Church. So the church leadership has an increased motivation to use the tactic of fear to slow the outflow of membership by playing on the fears of isolation, your fears, as well as their own. However, Gods word says "there is no fear in perfect love" (1Jo 4:18).
BY MY SPIRIT, NOT BY FORCE...
Seems God's Spirit has moved to spread out the people, "...from hence then, the Lord scattered them abroad upon the face of the earth." Could it be that ultimately God's Spirit is pulling persons, separately, to practice and to worship as individuals rather than in a large group or community? None-the-less, in a striking Satanic like opposition, some Church Leaders will continue to say, "let's get together." Florida #MegaChurch Pastor was arrested because he held two Sunday services with hundreds of people and violated a safer-at-home order in place to limit the spread of the #coronavirus; as reported by Fox-13 News and USA TODAY.
Jesus says only two or more are needed for him to be actively in the midst. The church tends to focus on the more. Online church services could be the answer, if members could be compelled to attend and further influenced to provide support for the Church. Thereby ensuring it's mission no matter how steep the decline in church attendance or in which direction Holy Spirit moves. For too many people church online is a step out of church. It’s a step toward lower devotion, not greater devotion. And to a lesser mission, not a deeper mission -- Church community thoughts, perhaps?! Is it possible, God's spirit is moving, but the church can't see it? If the entire body of the church has been moving toward individual #spirituality... then the church as a community is not working with the Spirit of God. God says a good servant is worthy of his wages, if the church's wages are not good, could it be the church is not worthy? Maybe instead of the decline in church attendance being evidence of lower devotion and lesser to the mission, it is really a spirit directed flow in devotion, that is to the devotion of God and to his mission and not the mission of the church. Finally, here is a #HeightenWorld thought: it is the church's responsibility to be aligned with the mission of God, not God to be aligned with the mission of the church. "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches."