• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Recent Issues
      • November/December 2022November/December 2022
      • September/October 2022September/October 2022
      • July/August 2022July/August 2022
      • May/June 2022May/June 2022
      • March/April 2022March/April 2022
      • January/February 2022January/February 2022
      • More…
  • Authors
      • Stuart OlyottStuart Olyott
      • Tony BrownTony Brown
      • Wayne ProbertWayne Probert
      • Steve NapperSteve Napper
      • Kerry OrchardKerry Orchard
      • Ceri DouglassCeri Douglass
      • Tom OlsonTom Olson
      • John SnyderJohn Snyder
      • Tom MartynTom Martyn
      • Hugh DavisHugh Davis
      • More…
  • Sections
      • Bible
      • Church
      • Comment
      • Faith
      • History
      • Life
      • Mission
      • My story
      • Prayer
      • Remembering
      • Reviews
      • Theology
  • Subscribe

Experience meetings

Philip SwannPhilip Swann4 minute readJuly/August 2017, page 12

Openness and fellowship as God’s people

For generations, the ‘experience meeting’ has been in the DNA of Welsh nonconformity. Sometimes known as ‘societies’, they developed through the pastoral vision of William Williams, in response to the eighteenth century evangelical awakening in Wales. This remarkable work of the Spirit of God resulted in many conversions, but many new converts were in the established church which could be unsympathetic and critical of their experience. Experience meetings developed because there was a need for something to help encourage those young Christians, now sympathetic to Calvinistic Methodism, to grow in their faith. The meetings encouraged fellowship, instruction, and growth in ‘heart religion’. They aimed to stoke the fire of their members’ love for God.

Experience meetings today?

In one sense the experience meetings weren’t new. Similar practices had developed in continental Europe during and after the Reformation, and in Wales and England under the Puritans. Where there is authentic spiritual life, God’s people have come together for fellowship, to talk together about ‘heart religion’.

This raises the question, ‘Is something similar part of the life of your church?’

We shouldn’t think that the practice of eighteenth-century experience meetings can be easily imported into our twenty-first-century context. The experience meeting was a result of revival and the Calvinistic Methodists, being great organisers, developed it in response to the unusual thing God was doing. With the revival came a sudden and unusual willingness to explore spiritual things. As blessed as we are in Christ, our meetings are often predictable, characterised more by structure than expressions of enthusiasm for God. With us, the practice is often more about turning up, listening and going home, rather than talking together about our struggles and blessings as Christians.

At the same time, it would also be a mistake to think the legacy of the experience meeting has nothing to say to us today. Our current situation is less fervent and weaker than that in the evangelical awakening, but there is still spiritual life among us. It’s like a light connected to a dimmer switch; our light is on but turned down to a little glow, whereas William Williams and others were turned up to the max. Wherever we are on the scale, there is spiritual life, but it needs to be nurtured and encouraged. Are we doing this effectively?

The weekly pattern of many churches consists of preaching the Bible on the Lord’s Day, with Bible study and prayer at a midweek meeting. This is wonderful, but the temptation to be satisfied with being fed and being faithful in the meetings, is a very real one. If this is all that’s happening, is it fulfilling the biblical pattern of life in the local church?

Superficial fellowship

More troubling is that our fellowship is often quite superficial. It struggles to get past talk about health, family or work. Conversations about personal spiritual experiences seem rare. This may be compounded by a lack of openness about the reality of every Christian’s struggle with temptation or doubt. When church life is quiet about these realities, an unhealthy triumphalism may develop. The implication is that church is not a safe place to be struggling. Again, does this fulfil the biblical pattern of life in the local church?

Surely authentic Christian fellowship invites us to something better, something grounded in the earthy reality of the Christian life. Paul’s honesty about his personal struggles in 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 models this perfectly. ‘We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts, we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.’ This kind of honesty provokes us to Christian fellowship, in prayer and compassion.

Scripture repeatedly acknowledges the reality of this view of the Christian life. We are to ‘carry one another’s burdens’ (Galatians 6:2) and talk together about what God is doing in our life (Psalm 66:16). We are to be aware of and respond to one another’s struggle with sin (Galatians 6:1). This is to be the regular pattern among us as Malachi 3:16, Hebrews 3:13 and 10:25 show. We are to minister to each other (1 Corinthians 14:26) and ‘confess our sins to each other’ (James 5:15).

The privilege and comfort of this must begin ‘from the front’, with preaching that is realistic about the ‘normal Christian life’ and ministry that is honest about the presence and benefit of struggles, sufferings and trials in sanctification. Ministry should demonstrate that growing in the knowledge of God’s love and felt presence is for every Christian (Ephesians 3:16-19) and be humble enough to acknowledge personal failure (Philippians 3:12-15). If we’re to develop openness about spiritual experience, we must begin with these kinds of things, ‘from the front’.

Fostering openness

When we understand that this is the normal Christian experience, we’re released from the delusion of triumphalism that so often restrains honesty in fellowship. People also often need a gentle push, to move towards more open fellowship. Some churches have been helped by house groups or breaking a prayer meeting into small groups. Small groups, as an experience meeting did, make it easier for people to talk together. As with the experience meeting, there is a need for sensitive and pastoral leadership. A house group can be ruined by an overbearing leader or dominant extrovert, loving the sound of their own voice. It takes pastoral skill to build a place where everyone feels safe to talk about the dealings God has had with them. It takes prayer, patience and persistence too.

Today we need a deepening of our fellowship in Christ, as we seek to live for Him in our generation. The Bible’s encouragement for us to build healthy gospel friendships, and share our lives together, must be a vital component in knowing this blessing.

Found this helpful? Like, share or tweet

Want more like this? Get the latest articles direct by email every week:

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Your personal details are safe. We won’t spam you, or pass your details onto anyone else. You can unsubscribe at any time.

About the author

Philip Swann
Philip Swann is the pastor of Llanelli Free Evangelical Church.

Read next

Leadership In A Culture That Doesn't Trust Authority
by Matt Francis
Making The Most Of Modern Christmas Carols
by James Hughes
The human heart is a perpetual idol factory
by Philip Swann
2 likes
The Delights And Dangers Of Conference Going
by Jeremy Bailey
Do Not Be Afraid
by Philip Swann
Vaccines are good but they are not God
by Graham Nicholls
1 like
Church in the New Normal
by Philip Swann
16 likes
Skilful Shepherds
by Philip Swann

Primary Sidebar

Like us on Facebook

Evangelical Magazine

Latest issue

Other popular articles

  • What is ‘praying in the Spirit’ and how do we pray in this way? by Stuart Olyott
    97 likes
  • Golgotha - Why was Jesus crucified outside the city? by Mark Barnes
    32 likes
  • Until we meet again by Alun Ebenezer
    182 likes
  • Sharing Jesus with Mormon Missionaries by Tony Brown
    48 likes
  • Sharing Jesus with a Jehovah’s Witness by Tony Brown
    107 likes
  • Door-to-door with a difference by Sheila Stephen
    18 likes
  • Why was Jesus baptised in the River Jordan? by Mark Barnes
    76 likes
  • From bare-knuckle fighter to Sunday school teacher by Wayne Probert
    461 likes
  • Trusting God Through Terminal Illness by Steve Napper
  • How to secure your church's online Zoom meeting by Mark Barnes
    26 likes

The Evangelical Magazine is published by the Evangelical Movement of Wales.
Waterton Cross Business Park, South Road, Bridgend CF31 3UL.
Registered charity number 222407. View our privacy policy.