My friend Marcus Honeysett has been talking about the gap that still remains in places between the “reformed” and the “charismatic” wings of the church. This gap is one that I have in some ways been very aware of all my life, and yet, having grown up in a family of churches that combines both emphases, I have never really understood why some people are adamant that the two must never meet. Marcus speaks of the tendency of some Reformed Charismatics to simply withdraw and get on with building churches, but argues that we have an important part to play in the wider church:
Here is the thing: I know a lot of people who are charismatics who want to strongly identify themselves with the very core of evangelicalism, by their doctrinal convictions and their mission-mindedness. We are Christ-centred, cross-centred, scripture-centred, grace-centred, faith-centred. Passionate to build churches to the glory of God. Not only so, but among some of these friends I number preachers and other Bible handlers of an astonishing degree of gifting: exegetically good, powerful in application and full of the Holy Spirit . . .
I think that biblical charismatics have a terrific role to play right at the very heart of evangelicalism – energising, showing how to build and plant churches, demonstrating what the best preaching and most inspirational Bible teaching can be like. I’m not happy to answer by withdrawing and just getting on with it. READ MORE
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