Thank you for this very well written article. May we never lose our first love in pursuit of numerical growth, people approval and relevance or be insensitive or inflexible to operations of Spirit.
Contextualize without compromise. He brings the increase. I appreciate your article, but I would like to know if you are talking about churches in a big city? I am a pastor in a small town and we are charismatic and full of the Holy Spirit but people are not coming to church like they were 6 or 7 years ago. I just think that what you are saying is a real one sided story and I can only pray that it will happen here again soon. I agree with your comments,Carey.
Keep up the good articles. I think if most pastors would look at a video of their services and do a critical analysis or just pretend they are attending the service for the first time. They would be appalled. And to see the same thing or same ritual each week is not very exciting! Also, we or the church needs to do what Jesus did. He taught everywhere he went. He was authentic and he cared. He wanted people to know God in a personal way!
Words to the wise! That sounds great Rick. Many are partially in the spirit and partially in the flesh. Who can really know? A lot of times what ever you are uncomfortable with is what you call the flesh. Are they any different? Revival Is not supposed to be controlled, but it can be managed! Just a great article all around. Who wants change? We all raise our hands Who wants To change? The bottom line is how do we reach those who are far from Christ and connect them into a body of believers?
Are we willing to sacrifice our personal preferences for Gods mission? Thank you Carey for putting this out there.
We all need a little soul searching after reading this article. Lots of great thoughts and wisdom here. This is needed more now than ever, regardless of cultural changes. Great article with many great points, thanks for taking the time to write it. I think it means we embrace how people are learning and engaging in real relationships over time.
Before the written word became accessible to everyone, we were an oral culture, passing truths along through stories and memorization. That was no longer the main vehicle once people could access the bible for themselves at any time. This changed the way the brain actually took information in.
This changed how people learned and connected. This has fundamentally changed how kids learn and connect with others. The bible is still the plumb line. Our propensity as fallen humans is to move away from God. I think the post is saying, as a church that is grounded on biblical truth, we will always be what people need but how we share it and engage with them is key because it determines whether or not those people will see it as a need.
Unless the church pays attention to the way people learn and connect from one generation to the next we never really will get the opportunity to share the great news, that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Being culturally relevant just means we pay attention to what is impacting the hearts and minds of people today, how they learn and connect, and letting this inform us as to the best way to get the truth across.
Naturally, this subject came up and Dr Pope observed that all the ministers had been lamenting their failures which in his judgement were due to their adherence to obsolete methods. He did not pursue the matter………Shortly before his death he said that repeated decreases are the result of our persistent use of worn out evangelistic methods…….. Someone has said that the Churches have an excellent article to offer but they are perfect fools at getting it on the market! So in how have matters improved?
I agree, and may I ask what happened to, and the Lord added daily such as should be saved. SO good. Thank you! No one was passing out flyers— For a really great Experience, join our next meeting three streets down, just past the Baths, and take a left into the dark tunnel.
Torches will be passed out to each attendee as they enter…. Say what??? I would like someone to take this seriously and engage with this question. I am a student of history and can tell you lots of information about the early church, but how did the early church replicate?
Is there any lesson to be found for us today? The early church: was not a business nor a Not-for-Profit entity had no tradition to follow had a dynamic passion to love one another as the Master had loved them they focused on loving, not 3 songs and a talk kept Jesus as the Head, not the pastor nor the board Sought to live and walk by the Spirit in obedience to the Master.
The early church: Suffered Died Fled Served others Rejoiced and most of all, Loved each other and those in the world around them no matter what since their faith and singleminded focus was the Master, not simply going through the motions for an hour and a half each week or less than each week.
The good news is that there are many who still live this way today. The sad part is that there are many who have forgotten and have focused on distractions such as structures, music, power, yes, and money too. These all have their place but Jesus said,. Seek First, the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things will be added unto you. The danger is in reversing the order…. I understand your comments — seeking purity and simplicity of the Church of the Book of Acts.
But one main aspect of the early church was the acceptance of the Gentiles into something that was Jewish in nature. Different culture — different times — message and relationship important — different methods unless you do envangelism in sandals as commanded by Christ.
But I do understand you sentiment. But I would also say the Day of Pentecost — and evrything that entails — should be the focus if you are going to look backwards.
My frustration and disappointment is the vast energy and resources we put into the secondary and less efficient approach though not without some seeming success—mostly because God makes all things work together for good—even the imperfect.
Which should NOT be a justification. Everything truly flows from this. They were a persecuted minority with a revolutionary agenda……. Lacking actual historical accounts, I think we can guess at the basics from what the Holy Spirit does now in the best situations. Those who are mature will lead those who are less mature, and hopefully show the immature that growing strong in faith and knowledge is the best possible life-goal.
Back in the days, overseers bishops were selected based on their great faith that could not be shaken by trouble, not just on their management skill. The governing authorities have changed so that some governments actually base their constitution on Biblical principles.
The fullness of the Kingdom is not about the early Church starting all over again but about reaping great harvests of souls ready to meet the end of this world as we know it. Kingdom sons are born for such a time as this, for whom all of creation is waiting to see because then creation itself will be delivered from its bondage to decay Romans Trying to recreate the early Church in the midst of all that is going backward, not forward.
What a great post! In Melbourne, Australia, the traditional evangelical churches are in decline as they seem to be about the head rather than the head and heart. Liturgical churches are not that popular because they seem outdated and impersonal.
Churches like Hillsong, and those like them, have become the growing churches because of the issues you mention in the post. People in Australia want to come to church for an experience of God rather than knowledge about God. They discovered people want prayer time in the service but also things like Alpha courses to invite people to.
Alpha is about knowing Jesus and experiencing the Holy Spirit. Holy Trinity Brompton seem to have picked up from Hillsong how to be contemporary yet be charismatic Anglicans rather than Pentecostal theologically speaking.
The challenge for my church here in Melbourne is how to engage people with the truth of the Gospel with love and grace so that people will experience God, not just learn about the bible text of the sermon topic. Also we have smaller resources which is a challenge but we can offer a good non-downloadable experience.
So we are hopeful about growing in the next few years. Very good. I have been to Lyon, France walked into Cathedrals built years ago — dirty, cold dark — served its generation and empty that Sunday except for a 8 elderly seats inside — then walked around the corner down the alley to the Comedy Club hired by Hillsong filled with young people! Filled to capacity with people. The Bible is full of super weird experiences when God does things, and meets people, and speaks…. Mel Bladek: Some need to have the spiritual gifts of discernment, of distinguishing between spirits, words of knowledge, and so on.
There should also be small group fellowships to facilitate individual growth in a relationship with Christ to offset that. Thanks for sharing this great post. Our church seems to be walking through this dynamic now. We are an older church that is moving quickly to reaching younger families.
And this passionate direction from our team is drawing more people and their spiritual hunger is absolutely refreshing! I guess the biggest challenge seems to be that our older generation struggles to understand how the new method applies to their experiences from days gone by. Any thoughts on how to bridge that growing divide? We want to move forward with connecting unbelievers to the gospel by whatever means necessary short of sin , but we know that God wants to reignite spiritual passion in the generation that has given so much to see it continue for so many generations.
Thanks for the reply Carey and all the great things you do for the body of Christ! Yeah, I heard Peyton Jones say recently that we often forget that the majority of the book of Acts occurs outside in public spaces. May the Lord help us all be creative and bold in bring the Gospel to where people are at. I wish MORE church leaders understood this!!! Thank you for this post!
I have observed these trends here in my ministry context, in South Florida. A very inspiring and challenging word! I fully agree with the idea that heartfelt, authentic worship is more important to the younger generation than its outward dressing What a relief! Have you heard of UHD? Can you explain this statement a bit more:. Can you think of any examples of where weird is just, well, weird?
What is authentic or maybe even quirky and what is off-putting awkward? Great post and answers some questions I have had on the subject. Can you give some examples? Hope this helps! Would you say this is true for unchurched lost people?
Seems like the lost I work with are weirded out by emotionalism. Just wondering. You have to be careful not to overwhelm people…keep things accessible.
Great stuff here. One of your best posts! But your examples of what you intend by these labels i. YES, people want to need to be there and matter. We are recently finding our front center 6 rows filled with collegiate! Wow, what a difference that makes for our worship vibrancy. And they represent everything you are writing about. Hey, I do have one critique. In the New Testament, there are three consistent distinctions between the words used for teaching and preaching.
And none have anything to do with energy, passion, dynamism, etc. The issues are: Content, Audience, and Purpose. In both arenas, there are places for careful explanation and reasoning.
And there are appropriate moments for urgent, passionate calls to action and change. This audience is for leaders. They too should know better. Thanks for the opportunity to speak in.
Thank you for your consistent awareness of trends that affect ministry effectiveness. In fact, some of the most charismatic churches I see are keenly attractional. Great question Brian. Attractional to my mind is a more recent version of the seeker movement of the 90s where churches designed their weekend experiences with the unchurched guest in mind.
Often but not always that takes the form of less worship, hosting that explicitly welcomes unchurched people into the room, running everything through a filter with the guest in mind and often but not always topical preaching.
Great post! I watch them almost every week! Great message,am. I desire to see the church beat soon. However,QN what role can the congrents play to bring more people…Josephine from Africa. Charismatic in expression, not charismatic in theology?
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Is American Christianity Turning Charismatic? Growing Numbers of People A decade ago, three out of ten adults claimed to be charismatic or Pentecostal Christians. Myths Exposed The Barna study found that several widespread assumptions about charismatic churches are inaccurate. Many people believe that charismatic Christianity is almost exclusively a Protestant phenomenon. However, the research showed that one-third of all U.
Framed differently, almost one-quarter of all charismatics in the U. Charismatic churches are generally thought to belong to a rather strictly defined group of denominations.
The growth of Pentecostalism, however, has crossed denominational boundaries in recent years. One widespread view is that charismatic Christianity is found mostly in small, relatively unsophisticated congregations. The research suggests something different. This number is difficult to discern though for a number of couple of reasons: Firstly, although there are denominations which represent Charismatic beliefs such as Assemblies of God, United Pentecostal Church International etc.
Improve this question. Logan Baxter Logan Baxter 2 2 gold badges 7 7 silver badges 26 26 bronze badges. One question as well would be if you would count people who consider themselves Charismatics or if you are going to count people unaware of Parham. Another question could be whether Parham's Charismatic movement is really novel to the point that it would be noteworthy; for instance, some Wesleyans may be in a state where you could look at Charismatic practice as being in line with their own beliefs, but with a more emotional rather than rational perspective as I was when I attended a Charismatic church from a Nazarene background.
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