Renewal: Thought, Word, and Deed

Leaves from the Notebook of a Survivor Chapter 7 Chapter 6: The Call to Preach: God at Dawn Chapter 8 Chapter 7: Renewall Resources for Clergy: The Logic of Renewal Chapter 9 Chapter 8: Designs for Preaching Chapter 10 Chapter 9: Proverbs in Pittsburgh Chapter 11 Chapter Another Ministry Option Chapter 12 Chapter Signposts at the Trail Head Chapter 13 Chapter The Nature and Mission of the Church: We were also involved in overseas mission and most recently we have been engaged in church planting. Currently we have three congregations that are seeking to work together.

Our premise here is that it is a little short sighted to form a new congregation and lock up all the resources of that congregation within itself. Our aim is to have congregations with their own responsible elderships inter relating, with a free flow of resources, people and training across congregations. A co-ordinating group facilitates combined arrangements and there is recognition of visionary people who can maintain the bigger view.

You will probably realise that this is not a Brethren pattern. Nor has it been easy to implement. In the past, new Brethren congregations fairly quickly isolated themselves from others or the birthing body to go their own, totally autonomous, way. We do not feel that this is a Biblical model. There seems to be a degree of liaison between the churches of the New Testament. Thus our aim is to get the best of both worlds local elders committed to the establishment of work in the local area, while at the same time maintaining relationships between elders in each congregation to enable a free flow of resources.

For us, combined areas involve overseas missions, youth, equipping, about six combined celebrations a year, and elders retreats. Currently we are responsible for somewhere over adults and children across the three congregations. As we look back on the steps that we have taken, we recognise that we have been seeking to integrate three major emphases. In endeavouring to interweave the strengths of these three movements we have also come to recognise their weaknesses.

Let me sketch these quickly for you. Two things that were impressed on me in my younger days were the necessity of living a holy life and the need to save souls. I have discovered that these goals are not wrong but they are insufficient. Another weakness of this position has been the tendency towards a bigoted, self righteous exclusiveness. I can remember in my Bible class days analysing the cults. Let me, to be fair, say that I am talking about a conservative country assembly of 35 years ago. I also want to make it quite clear that I am very grateful for my Brethren heritage.

I am not putting that down. Its innate strengths, prayerful parents and many Brethren friends make any rejection of my origins impossible. I am just pointing out some of the weaknesses. A further weakness for many conservative evangelicals has been the emphasis on personal piety at the expense of social concern or social issues. This was a strong element of teaching in my youth.

In practice it often meant no dances; and no cinemas. When my Dad played cricket for a local Club he was criticised not for playing on Sunday but for playing on Saturday. You might get caught up in their sinful habits! I do not want to criticise rather I would analyse. This is a far healthier approach as it invites us to work together on areas that create division and destabilise relationships.

Objective assessment of healings may be seen as lack of faith and sometimes extravagant claims are made prematurely. Another weakness here is what many would see as manipulation and guiltproducing techniques. Such activities are not what God requires. This is not limited to Pentecostals and Charismatics, but is quite strongly reinforced in these groups, especially in Western nations. We see its extremes in Prosperity Teaching. Such an attitude is fed by our selfcentred society and our highly individualistic culture. Very often we Christians do not realise that this is happening to us.

The first weakness here is the failure to recognise the spiritual base of evil. Jesus clearly identified two kingdoms in conflict and he came to destroy the works of darkness. I am not saying that such human activities are unnecessary or futile, but in themselves they are insufficient. This tendency leads to an involvement in social justice dealing with fruits rather than roots.

The result of this is often tired, wornout people, overwhelmed by the needs of society. We have to ask questions about that. They are well meaning and very committed to relieving a hurting society. None of us would. However I do sense a stress level in some of my Liberal Church friends who are very passionate about social needs in the community. I also see them often having great difficulty peopling their ministries. The first is a corpse and the second a ghost. Now let me now draw your attention to the great strengths in these three streams of the Church.

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The major strength of the Evangelical position is clearly its strong biblical base and emphasis on the need for a personal encounter with God through Jesus Christ. The commitment to Scripture as the basis for our Christian faith and the commitment to faith in God through Christ for salvation. I am glad for the heritage of my Biblical base. In such an uncertain world it is a great foundation on which to build. In most of my Brethren upbringing we never got practical in this area. If we talked about the leading of the Spirit we never learned how actually to experience it. This same man later came out very strongly against Pentecostal and the charismatic movement in our country.

Words, Signs and Deeds by Brian Hathaway | Renewal Journal

Our denomination has closed off from this whole dimension for about 30 years. He is the dynamic source of their spiritual life and Christian activity. Many such encounters that I have observed are life changing and deeply motivating. Intoxication was the description used in Acts 2. Often expressed in vibrant life, it can be very attractive to the nonChristian. Much of our Brethren expression of our Christian faith in New Zealand anyway has been legal, rational and intellectual in its approach.

I am very glad that our four children have been brought up in a church which understands this. They have seen people healed, they have experienced miraculous things, they have sensed the vibrancy and the expectancy of faith. They have all had a deep experience of God. We are glad about that. It has brought great strength to them. Lack of depth or maturity which may lead to postpentecostals and postcharismatics See Barratt, International Bulletin of Missionary Research , Vol.

Let me add that the Maori people have taught me a lot about sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. They are often very sensitive spiritually; sensitive to God and sensitive to the presence of demonic forces. It is those of us from a Western world view and I identify myself here in particular, coming as I do from a rational scientific background and a conservative Brethren heritage who have had particular struggles with aspects of the work of the Holy Spirit.

This has been a great part of our pilgrimage over the past decade, seeking to discover this dimension and outwork it within the framework and guidelines of Scripture. Each seems to have inherent strengths and weaknesses. I well remember a Saturday morning just over two years ago, when a group of about 40 young people from our congregation were waiting expectantly for a session to begin. We had invited a person with a prophetic gift to our congregations and I knew that he had never met any of these young people before.

One by one he stood them before him and spoke what he sensed God was saying to him. The group laughed as he touched on personal character traits that they recognised. Some cried as he mentioned their deepest longings and encouraged them to follow closely as God led them on.

Time after time we were awed as he spoke of things that he could have had no previous knowledge of. Clear insights that could only come from the Spirit of God. Those young people left the room that morning walking on air God had spoken to them directly. That type of prophetic gifting operating in a church is very powerful. Over recent years we have sought to encourage people who have sensed God leading them in this way to use this gifting.

Then there is also the problem of hyper-faith and presumption. When you get involved in praying for healing, make sure that you have a theology of nonhealing as well, because pastorally you will need it.

Compare Translations for Colossians 3:17

The awareness of the spiritual dimension of life and the nature of the spiritual battle that is occurring on this planet are taken very seriously by most Pentecostals and Charismatics. Intercession is a word more commonly used by people of this stream of the Christian Church than by most of those in our Brethren assemblies.

The danger of attributing everything to the devil and not recognising that much evil still lurks within the human soul. There is little doubt that much of the best Christian music has come out of this stream of the Church over the past 30 years, inspired, they would claim, by the Holy Spirit. Many of the melodies and words seem to touch people deeply, often producing an outpouring of genuine love and adoration to the Lord. Worship may degenerate into a form of mushy sentimentality which caters for the prevalent existential ethos of much of our current society.

While I am discussing the Pentecostal, Charismatic and Third Wave those who embrace the gifts and miraculous dimensions of the ministry of the Holy Spirit without wanting to be identified as Pentecostals or Charismatics stream of the Church, let me remind you of its incredible growth over this century. It has been noted that both the first century and the 20th century have been centuries of the Holy Spirit. Recent research reveals a correlation between the evidence of the supernatural power of God and Church growth, particularly in the twothirds world countries.

Finally let me outline what I see as the great strength of the Liberal stream of the Church their passionate concern for social justice.

Put another way, its strength lies in the understanding that the gospel has implications beyond personal salvation. I have come to understand that God is committed to the salvation, the reconciliation and the redemption of the whole universe. The cross does not only address personal sin.

Thought, Word, and Deed

Its implications are much bigger. Ultimately everything that sin has touched and spoiled, God wants back under his rule and authority. He has commissioned us to go down that track as far as we can. One of the problems we human beings have is ignoring strengths when we find weaknesses in a position contrary to our beliefs. If I can find weaknesses, I will focus on them and use them to dismiss and undermine strengths in an alternative position that I should be examining.

This happens in all areas of life.

American Standard Version

As a leadership we have tried to listen to and learn from the insights of other perspective of the Church. Words announce the truth of God. Signs demonstrate the power of God. Deeds express the love of God. If we only have words , we compete with all the philosophies and the theories that are circulating in society and we compete poorly because often churches are poor at communication.