A Charismatic Civil War? (Part 2)
I did this once but somehow I deleted it.
The last post has been extremely popular. I think there are a lot of people who can relate to what Grady says in that article- Pastors in particular. Grady’s article was a personal challenge to me. If you havent seen it you can see it here. I am a charismatic. I believe in the gifts of the Spirit. I want all of what God wants for his church today. I want healing, deliverance, tongues, prophecy, and miracles. And not just because I want them, I believe we NEED them. I don’t believe there has to be a “blue coat” “grey coat” division in the body. And if that does happen, guess what? Nobody wins. I believe with all my heart the next move of God is not going to be led exclusively by Toronto, or the Assembly of God, or Lakeland, or Willow Creek, or Ed Young Jr. but by a collaboration and a working together of every movement in the body of Christ. I hate when people say this “movement” is the best or this person is the best. “Best” often comes down to a style preference. In my realm of Influence as I look at the leadership landscape in the Body of Christ, I see we need input from Power ministries but we also need input from people with the gift of leadership. Believe me. Im not super experienced but it would not be good if either “coat” was the main figurehead in the body. The point: Lets be more open. When I say open, I don’t mean take everything. I mean we take what’s good and leave what is unnecessary. We have something to learn from Todd as well as Bill Hybels, something to learn from Oral Roberts as well as Rick Warren, etc etc. One Perspective alone will severely handicap us. As I have taken this perspective, I have come under some criticism from those who believe if you are not 100% in a certain movement you are banished to the other side. This has caused me pain, and quite frankly was getting into my spirit causing me to be critical and defensive, but J Lee Grady’s article has given me new perspective. I want to be humble and loving and be a promoter of peace instead of division, love and not hate. Thank you J Lee Grady!
czarthoughts said,
July 15, 2008 at 2:42 pm
This Hatfield and McCoy mentality in the Body is disheartnening. Now there is some stuff that happens in each circle that I don’t agree with. There is stuff in the leadership circles, the power circles, the emergent circles, the charismatic circles, the unexplained crop circles and every other circle that I don’t completely subscribe too. But that should NEVER keep me or anyone else from learning and growing from each other and it DEFINATELY never cause us to be divided. None of us exclusively hold the truth. There is a level of dedication to understanding scripture that I learn from Baptists. There is a level of trust in God that I learn from my faith camp brothers. There is a level of miracle working that I learn from my power brothers. There is a level leadership that I learn from the leadership cirlces. There is a commitment to evangelism that I learn from the missional brothers. There is a level of discipleship that I learn from my Episcopal brothers. I could go on and on.
Sometimes we get it wrong and we need to repent and change our theological course. I’ve changed some of my beliefs based on what some of these other denominational people have taught me. But I can’t say to the eye he is not the body because he is not the ear.
mservello said,
July 15, 2008 at 3:24 pm
right on Steve!
Matt said,
July 15, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Michael,
It was not my intent to say that calling someone a “whore” in the current cultural context would be acceptable especially from the pulpit. My point was simply this: running too much to one side or the other creates a sense that one perspective is more important than the other. As for your quote from Billy Graham, I agree in principle but I am also thinking that without someone screaming the truth many souls idly slip into Hell as they sit in the pews and don’t know why….
Again, I am NOT in favor of the message of judgement, but I’m not in favor of the “my only job is to be merciful” message either. My point is that while Jesus did know the heart of each person perfectly, the model still remains in effect: tell the truth of God’s divine plan for salvation for the PURPOSE of drawing that person to the feet of Jesus, not to deter them or to offend them simply for the sake of being “right” or because we’re too dogmatic about our spiritual principles, but that principles of God’s truth highlight His mercy. Without the truth of “Hey, we’re all going to Hell UNLESS we accept God’s merciful intervention”, is the POINT of the Gospel. That God’s love is so amazing, powerful, and by definition….AWESOME, that He provided the perfect sacrifice so that each and every person can be redeemed and be in a life changing relationship with their Creator.
To reiterate, I was not saying anyone should be pointing fingers or calling anyone names, I used the woman at the well to emphasize that there were times when Jesus was so bold to identify a person’s sin and yet loved them with such incredible compassion and consistency that He was able to create change. Please do not mistake my desire to see greater consistency in communicating truth coupled with the power of mercy and grace to be that I feel it’s acceptable to marginalize any portion of our society by name-calling, but someone needs to shake this Bride and get her up into the rightful position God has called Her to be in. The church should be the trend-setters, not the followers. I apologize if I offended, it was not my intent.
mservello said,
July 15, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Hey Matt-
I know your heart and i know what you meant. I just wanted to clarify for all the readers. I am by nature a truth teller. I was born with a large piece of Sister Barb (MOM) in me. I believe we need to be forthright and speak the truth. Not too long ago i did a whole part of my sermon on hell, but the way i set ti up was I talked about how i don’t enjoy talking about hell and I wish I dint have to talk about it but because of its reality I Needed to talk about it, The key is what the Bible says…Speak the Truth in Love.
Please dont think you offended anyone…I was just simply clarifying your comments for the readers!
Love you Bro.
Mike
Jordan b said,
July 15, 2008 at 8:34 pm
I wrote a comment on this right before you accidentally deleted it last night. I was saying that i completely agree, and this post reminds me a bit of that story from St Augustine where God reveals to him that his trying to comprehend God fully is as possible as his trying to trying to fit the entire ocean into a hole on the beach. There is so much we can learn from others- especially when it comes to Christ.