Challenges of the Charismatic Movement to the Reformed Tradition

2008

This article analyzes the idea of Peter Wagner, the main representative of the New Apostolic Reformation, that apostles should and must govern local church congregations. The support for this claim is based primarily on Ephesians 2:20 where Paul said that the church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.” The question then is, whether people with the gift of apostolic ministry represent that foundation or the foundation is the apostolic teaching itself. Closely connected with this is the question whether the apostolic ministry/office continues today or not. The first part of the article analyzes the reasons for the occurrence of this idea in Wagner’s theology and the ultimate goals of the NAR movement. In the second part, it analyzes the biblical understanding of the apostolic ministry which is common for NAR theologians, and finally, compares these ideas with traditional ideas about apostolic ministry in Christianity. The author argues that while apostolic minist...

1996

These reflections on the Charismatic Movement arose out of talks given to the Methodist Aldersgate Renewal Fellowship in April 1985 and the Methodist Tamil Annual Conference Pastors School in August 1986. They have also been refined through sharing with congregations in Muar and Batu Pahat (Presbyterian) Sentul (Tamil Methodist) and Petaling Jaya (St Paul's Anglican and Good Hope Evangelical Lutheran) as well as with the students at Seminari Theoloji Malaysia who as usual suffer much from their lecturers struggling to ...

BARI, Italy, OCT. 28, 2004.

Ecclesial communion helps to harmonize the charisms of the new movements within the Church, says a key figure in the Charismatic Renewal.

LHSM, 2024

The Charismatic Renewal is one of the most influential movements in 20th-century Christianity, particularly in how it has shaped Mainline Protestant denominations. Unlike the early days of Pentecostalism, which was often viewed as a marginalized movement practiced by the uneducated and the socially lower classes, the Charismatic Renewal brought the Pentecostal experience of the Holy Spirit into the heart of Mainline churches such as Episcopalian, Lutheran, Anglican, and Presbyterian traditions. The movement was characterized by speaking in tongues, prophecy, and other spiritual gifts becoming prevalent among clergy and congregants who had previously adhered to more formal and sacramental traditions. This paper explores the essential contributions of Charismatic Mainline churches to Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity, focusing on the experiences of four key figures in the movement, the conditions within the churches that necessitated renewal, how intellectuals were received when they began to speak in tongues, and the denominational backgrounds of many converts.

Ecumeny and Law, 2020

During the last twenty-five years, two scholarly conversations have developed largely alongside one another—one surrounding the multiethnic church phenomenon and another regarding the missional church. To date, no empirical research has explored the relationship between these two conversations. In this dissertation, I explore the intersection between missional leadership and multiethnic ministry by analyzing how pastoral leadership facilitates missional change at The Lighthouse—a multiethnic congregation in Port City, USA. To understand the process of missional change at the church, I utilized a case study approach. I collected data by conducting semi-structured interviews with thirteen pastoral and lay leaders in the church, through participant observation, and by administering a congregational survey through a convenience sample during Sunday morning worship services. I then used an integrated theoretical framework consisting of adaptive leadership theory and schema theory to interpret the data. My findings revealed that pastoral leadership has been utilizing a charismatic leadership approach to construct a missional theology of place among the congregation to facilitate the process of change. They also revealed several adaptive challenges resulting from that approach to leadership: (1) A gap between a lived and preferred value for mission in the congregation; (2) over-dependence on the charismatic leader; and (3) an ethnic hierarchy being perpetuated through a Euro-centric leadership schema. As a result of this study, I was able to make three conclusions. First, as a result of the top-down charismatic leadership approach, the church is not on a journey to missional. Instead, it is engaging in an ecclesio-centric form of mission that inadvertently diminishes the agency of the Spirit by centering missional innovation around the gifts and charisma of the pastor. Second, by centering power and decision-making among the charismatic leader, the pastoral staff has inadvertently minimized the agency of the everyday people of God and marginalized ethnically diverse voices in the congregation. Third, the charismatic approach toward change is hindering missional innovation and creativity among the congregation, reinforcing the cycle of dependency on the charismatic leader. Accordingly, I suggest interpretive leadership as a pathway forward for the church to unleash the missional potential in the congregation.

PENTECOST TODAY - Issue 2 2020 www.nsc-chariscenter.org

The mission of Pentecost Today is to serve and be a voice for the National Service Committee's mission "to foster the dynamic grace of baptism in the Holy Spirit." We do this by publishing articles that instruct and give practical wisdom, with a particular emphasis on strengthening leaders and leader formation, in a visually appealing and inviting format.