The charismatic movement of the 1960s through 80s touched many congregations in mainline denominations. So did conflict, as traditional pastors and church members encountered something not in our Reformation traditions—experiences of speaking in tongues, as practiced in Paul’s time. Considered a gift and blessing, this experience is expected for membership in Pentecostal churches.
I was not part of that movement, nor have I ever spoken in tongues. The charismatic movement peaked about forty-five years ago, but I risk mentioning those divisive times to make one simple point. Those speaking or praying in a strange language were experiencing God’s empowering presence, and that is very exciting. “God’s empowering presence” sums up the over-arching theme biblical scholar Gordon Fee found in his study of Paul’s references to the Spirit in his letters.
By now many mainline churches have new appreciation for Paul’s explanation of the many spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12. Almost all are giftings by the Spirit for doing ministries that would be welcome in any congregation today. When you learn to spot those giftings at work among people in your congregation, you can be encouraged by what you observe.
American mainline churches are coming out of a late 20th-century movement that advocated viewing congregations as social organizations that could be improved by better management techniques. I contributed to that with a book on Pastoral Administration: Integrating Ministry and Management. Those new perspectives did not slow down the decline. In fact, that mentality probably contributed to it.
The challenge now, however, is to encourage each other by looking for evidence of how congregations are different from other community social organizations. Look for reflections of the Spirit’s empowering presence at work among believers around you.
Start with yourself and any special times when you gained new faith insights or found service to others to be especially rewarding. Look for stories like experiencing the special joy of taking communion to a home-bound church member. Or perhaps it is a small awakening to a new faith insight that increases your trust in God. Look for evidence that something has changed for the better in the motivation or outlook of a participant or a group that has been exposed to the Spirit through God’s word.
But I add another expectation. Insights from psychology and sociology can explain a lot of what happens in traditional church life. When and where the Spirit is at work, the lives of believers change for the better in what they do and how they feel about their relation to God. Be affirmed by the “extra” the Spirit brings to church people, like participating by the hundreds in an organized service project.
The one whose life has changed in small or big ways has a story worth sharing. Many may be reluctant to do so, assuming what happened is too personal or not important. But find some part of your God-moment to share with others, not for your sake but for theirs. The Spirit who moved in you can do that for others, too.
I dream of traditional congregations where such mutual God-oriented conversation and encouragement happen routinely. It already does so in many congregations more oriented to the Spirit in their midst. Instead of social small talk after worship, they actually talk about what God is doing in their lives and what they are praying for.
It can become so in traditional churches. Church leaders first need to decide they want to look for evidence of the Spirit alive and working in their midst. Then comes purposeful effort to solve issues of arranging time and place for such sharing. Website technology makes that easier.
That’s why I have put a lot of time and effort into developing an online community that congregations can use to make such sharing easier and more compelling. It’s called Virtual Church Fellowship and will be launched very soon! Stay tuned!
Look forward to the launching of Virtual Church Fellowship!
May it be fully empowered by His Spirit and accomplish all that God would desire.
Thanks. It is proving very difficult to program the way I intend. It is likely to be another month.
An exciting example of the Holy Spirit moving among all the churches in a community is happening in our small town – Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal and evangelical. I detail it in my recent blog post at https://www.pastordavidwentz.com/2019/08/30/is-this-the-beginning-of-revival/
Always glad to hear when the Spirit is moving. Thanks
I read the article. I saw a lot of “I think God was saying to me” and “I felt God telling me.” When I read the Prophets, from Isaiah to Malachi, they didn’t “THINK that God was talking to them;” they KNEW that God was speaking to them. He wasn’t TRYING to talk to them, He SPOKE!
The New Testament continues that pattern. There was no confusion, no need to GUESS whether it was God or not.
I KNOW that God speaks through His Son, but these other things, I cannot pin my faith on a voice that “mutters and peeps.”
I would be hesitant to follow someone who claims a special message about what others are to do. I am willing to follow my impressions of what the Spirit wants me to do. I don’t expect any revelations of new truths. Best is to check to be sure personal messages meet biblical standards and that the proposed action makes sense to wise friends. This is how you check the spirits to be sure of the Holy Spirit.
Interesting thesis: I wonder how that would have applied to the first biblical record of a spiritual contact that “broke bad.”
Genesis 3:1–7 (ESV) — 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
She heard the voice. She looked at the tree. She ate. Apparently the experiment was a success, for she now knew “good from evil.” unfortunately for her, that knowledge included the knowledge of death, an unforeseen consequence. She could have ignored the voice since it was clearly from the Serpent, and there was nothing that indicated that God used the serpent to speak before. She could have ignored the serpent, since it was not her husband, from whom God had formed her. Instead, she engaged the serpent on its own terms, gave it validity, and followed its leading. Thus the spiritual voice that was not clearly God’s voice was the agent of our ruin.
I am not sure of your reference to what I said. In general, be careful with what you think is a message from the Spirit. Is it consistent with Scriptural teachings? Does it make sense to other experienced Christians? Does it appeal to your pride, or to your humility? As John says, test the spirits. Be really, really careful when you think you have received a message for what others are supposed to do.
Dave
I admit that I am ambivalent about the Pentecostal movement. Having spent over 20 years there, I have seen the good, the bad, and the heretical. The same Holy Spirit that declared that He empowers us be victorious over satan and sin apparently also said that the Trinity is pagan, and baptism in the Triune name is blasphemous. Has any similar heretical teaching come from the Confessional Evangelical Reformation, from those who were properly applying its teachings?
Glad to hear from you. I trust all is going well in your ministry in Gary. Classical Christian theology from the fourth century on has recognized the Trinity, which is clearly taught in the New Testament. If anything, Protestants have short circuited the Holy Spirit, nor over emphasized. Follow Luther’s explanation that the Father created, provides and protects me, the Son redeemed me, the Holy Spirit called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified me and keeps me in the one true faith. The Spirit’s role is to apply the redemption won by Christ to people and churches today. It is the Father and the Son who send the Spirit to advocate their purposes.
Dave, reflecting on Martin Luther’s words, “It’s almost sequential, isn’t it?” We have too long neglected the mutual conversation of the brethren which in the LCMS’ better days were the circuit meetings.” Blessings. John
SA III: IV, where it refers to “the mutual conversation and consolation of brothers and sisters,” is not talking about Circuit Meetings, unless you are ELCA, since they have female “pastors.” It is talking, it seems to me, about the conversations that the saints have in their general interactions outside of the Divine Service.
Robert Kolb, Timothy J. Wengert, and Charles P. Arand, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2000), 319.
This is interesting, Delwyn. You are commenting on a comment made by John Kieschnick.
Yes, mutual conversation and encouragement refers to informal interactions. Like me, John Kieschnick grew up among ethnic Lutherans. “Circuit” is the name used in the LCMS to describe a formal grouping of about ten pastors and congregations near each other. We are supposed to meet monthly. Many no longer do. I think decades ago most circuits worked well for mutual encouragement when there was a shared sense of ethnic identity. Our church body now is trying to work out its new identity in this post-ethnic era.
I am the “visitor” for the circuit Royal Redeemer is in. We just met yesterday and had good discussions of where the pastors are in their ministry and hopes for the future. I make such discussions a priority. Unfortunately many pastors in other parts of the church body have a sense of fear toward other pastors, lest they wind up on the wrong side politically in the struggle over innovative practices.
Thanks again for you helpful comments. I think when the LCMS was still an ethnic German church, there was plenty of mutual encouragement to be faithful to ways that were apparent then. Conversation was all about practices or casuistry. The basis for unity in practice today is hard to find.
Not sure how I got on your list, but I’m happy I did. I enjoy reading your articles. I don’t know what years you were at Fuller, I studied under Peter Wagner; off and on through the years of 1979-84. Keep the articles coming.
I came as vice president in the Fall of 1983 and taught church management. I left Summer of 1990 to plant a church in Cleveland.
I have gained a new insight! Glad I took the time to read. God bless you Pastor Luecke!
Thanks for your continued interest, Ingrid.
Hello, Dave,
I haven’t written lately, but have read and continue to enjoy your articles. They are so life giving. I love your love for the Holy Spirit and pray that that love will be captured in all of us.
Thanks, Elaine. I am glad what I am writing makes sense to veterans of the charismatic movement like you.
Dave