The Ecclesia Network

a missional church network

Theology

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A New Kind of Charismatic

There are many things that are hard to predict about the future of the church in North America, but one thing is clear: the future church is more charismatic. 

I’m not sure how that statement strikes you, but consider the growth of the church around the world – most of it has a Spirit-filled underpinning. This growth, once primarily happening outside Western contexts, is now steadily increasing in places like the UK, Australia, and especially the United States.  At the same time, the non-charismatic parts of the church are shrinking, especially in the Western world. 

We all know that the mainline church (UMC, PCUSA, Episcopal) is by and large a generation away from the edge of extinction. But what is most striking in the data is that while the evangelical church is holding steady, the families of churches that hold to some practice of “the charismatic life” are growing. Even evangelical churches and communities that once would have been found lacking in their charismatic orientation now have clear, regular examples and bodies of teaching around the Spirit-filled life. Whether it is the Anglican Church, the Reformed Calvinist movement, Spirit-Oriented Mennonites, former United Methodists, or more multi-denominational groupings like Exponential, there is hardly any corner of the church that is not MORE charismatic than it was in previous generations.  

One has to step back and wonder, “Why might this be?” This is certainly not something that aligns well with the values of our broader culture as so many changes tend to be. Instead, we ought to think that perhaps this wave of the Spirit is something that God himself has initiated for this time. If God himself has initiated this, then we might ask ourselves, “How do all of us take steps into what God is doing?”  After all, you need not consider yourself charismatic to take a step forward into the life of the Spirit.  

You need not consider yourself charismatic to take a step forward into the life of the Spirit.

In my own journey, I have often described myself as a “British charismatic.”  Mainly, what I have intended to mean is that I have a “subdued” expression of life in the Spirit. I am still uncomfortable in contexts where the “full gifts of the Spirit” are displayed. Yet, I have found that learning to hear God, to give and receive prophetic words, and to discern the action of the Spirit in a setting, have been indispensable to my life and leadership. I’ve also been fortunate to be part of just a few “miraculous” circumstances. I always hope for more of those, but it doesn’t phase me when less of them happen. There are more than enough reasonable, theologically informed, reasons why we don’t see more miracles than we do.  

What resides in my heart for my fellow Ecclesia leaders is that you would not miss what God is doing in this moment, either because of any past or present experiences with those who are “Pentecostal or Charismatic” or that you would regard your own personality and way of being in life to be at odds with what we generally experience to be a more “expressive” version of the Christian faith. If we miss what God is doing in this season, I believe there are at least three profound things we will miss.

First, you could miss a more dynamic and faith-filled personal life of faith. Second, you may miss the longing expectation for the surprising work of God that accompanies the vast majority of where the church is growing in witness and maturity around the globe and ALSO in Western nations that have left a concern for authentic, orthodox Christian witness. Third, and perhaps most importantly because it serves as the foundation of the first two, you will miss out on living and leading with the authority and boldness that accompanies the call of a Christ-follower and is necessary as part of your profession in a time when the winds of society are most certainly blowing against you.

As I look across all my experiences with planting, pastoring, multiplying leaders, building networks, and working with various denominations across the continuum of the church in North America, one thing I know for sure is that the only wind that can withstand the winds of our current secular, increasingly antagonistic context to authentic Christianity on the one hand, and the current nationalistic, increasingly antagonistic context to authentic Christianity on other is the wind of the Spirit. We must have the confidence that God is with us, in the power of the Spirit, to have the courage to face these twin headwinds coming against all of us for the foreseeable future.  

So, how do we take a step into this moment? 

First, I would recommend to any leader three books that I believe create a pathway for anyone to incrementally grow in their life in the Spirit – Surprised by the Power of the Spirit and Surprised by the Voice of God, both by Jack Deere, and Hearing God by Dallas Willard. You might have read Hearing God in a previous season in life, but I would invite you to read it through the lens of the “charismatic life” and see how it hits you differently. 

Second, I would recommend that you simply ask God to continuously reveal the person and work of the Spirit that Jesus sent to accompany and empower you. There is more to be said for sure, but I don’t know of any circumstance where someone has genuinely asked God to reveal the Spirit to them and God has not in due course answered. The question for us is “Do we want more of the Spirit?”  It surely seems like it would be wise to say “yes.”

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A Communion Reflection for Lent

These next few weeks as we worship God during Lent, we want to focus on three key aspects of our worship as a community: worship through praise in song and prayer, worship through communion, and worship through giving. At Evergreen, we desire each person to grow in worship of our great God.

One of the central pieces of historic Christian worship has been communion or what is commonly called the Lord’s Supper. You can read endless works on how that has been understood and developed through history. But there are some key elements to what communion is that helps us to understand the importance and the rationale behind why we celebrate it every Sunday at Evergreen. I wanted to simply remind you of a few: 

As we gather at the table….

  • We reaffirm our new identity in Christ. 

We are reaffirming what we initially declared in baptism-namely, our new identity in Christ. Through this act, we are publicly confessing our loyalty to Christ. Each week we have a chance to reaffirm our personal faith and publicly identify ourselves with the Body of Christ as we celebrate the miraculous gift of salvation.  

  • We proclaim the good news of Christ’s death. 

In one of the most well-known passages about communion in 1 Corinthians 11, Paul is seeking to address some problems that have arisen in the church around the practice and writes: 

For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.” For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again. 1 Cor. 11:23-26

By this representation of Christ’s broken body and shed blood we as a community are proclaiming to one another (and I think Paul would go on to say the ‘principalities and powers’) the good news of Jesus’ victory over sin, death, and evil in his death and resurrection. 

  • We commune with Jesus. 

Over the centuries there have been many questions raised as to exactly how Christ is present in the Lord’s Supper. It’s one of the major disagreements that separate Catholics and Protestants and even denominations within Protestantism. Many protestants believe that the Holy Spirit mediates the presence of Jesus “which transforms our observance of the Lord’s Supper from a solemn memorial into a joyous celebration of the risen and returning Lord who is present among us” (Grenz). While there will always be mystery surrounding what happens at communion, we believe that the Lord’s Supper is a time where we commune with Jesus. 

  • We commune with one another and affirm our unity.

Communion is not only a symbol of our present community with Christ, but also with one another within Christ’s fellowship. Our eating together from a single loaf symbolizes our common participation in communion with Christ. The Spirit reminds us that we belong to each other and are to be concerned for the welfare of one another. The death and resurrection of Jesus is central to everything we do. Despite our vast differences with our own backgrounds, experiences, and ideologies, it is this that unifies us and that we rally around weekly. (Grenz)

A Note to Parents:
If you’re a fellow-parent, our job is to help our children understand the importance and value of communion and help them to take it in a way that is respectful and reverent (as much as possible!). One of the things I always try to do is to ask my boys, “Do you remember why we do this?” They have started to have a correct, but relatively rote response to that question so I’ve started to ask a different followup each time to make sure they’re still thinking about what they’re doing. Questions like, “And why did Jesus die for us?” or “What does it mean that God loves us?” However you chose to do it, the important thing is that we’re intentional in how we’re teaching our kids about communion. 

As we come together to worship this Sunday and we get to the time of communion, I hope you’ll pause for a minute as well and consider one of these powerful aspects of the Lord’s Supper as we gather together to celebrate what Jesus has done for us! 

(Much of this article is inspired by Stan Grenz’ tremendous book “Theology for the Community of God.”)