Jesus Creed
First, how do I recognize a Spirit-filled and Spirit-led church? I would not consider any church Spirit-filled or Spirit-led that is not evangelical in the broad sense of that word. It must embrace, live from, worship within, and promote the gospel of Jesus Christ. To put it another way, the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, must be at its center, must be its heartbeat.
Assuming that is the case, I look for a healthy balance of dynamics and form, charisma and liturgy/sacrament. A church that is all dynamics without order, leadership, and ritual is unlikely to be truly Spirit-filled or Spirit-led. On the other hand, a church that is all form without dynamics, tradition, ritual and order, without openness to change, is unlikely to be Spirit-filled and Spirit-led.
A Spirit-filled and Spirit-led church will be alive, “crackling” with energy and passion, without fanatical extremism that focuses attention on ecstatic experiences rather than on the grace and glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ. Its people will come to worship and other meetings with excited expectation and not out of a sense of duty or with unhealthy fear. In a truly Spirit-filled and Spirit-led church visitors will come to see what God is doing among them. They will testify that “God is busy” (Hauerwas) there. Lives will be transformed in noticeable ways.
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