THE TRADITIONAL CHURCH
and NEO-PENTECOSTALISM
by Dr. George E. Weaver
The following address was presented on January, 1973 to the Clericus Organization. The School of Christian Ministries has requested permission of our Bishop to share the message with the pastors of the United Brethren in Christ denomination.
Additional copies of the address may be purchased for thirty-five cents as long as the limited supply lasts.
Director of the School of
Christian Ministries
Paul R. Fetters
THE TRADITIONAL CHURCH AND NEO-PENTECOSTALISM
The purpose of this discussion is to suggest how a pastor of a congregation rooted in the mainstream of traditional protestant theological belief and practice may relate and react to the surge of the neo-pentecostal movement.
I am concerned that we exercise the. discipline of being precise in our terms of communication. We have come through a time, and are still in it, when we throw around a lot of terms - phrases that sound nice and sound important, words coupling with words, catchy statements. We use these and abuse them to the point that we are no longer quite certain what we are talking about. As pastors and as concerned members of a church, if we are going to relate to the current discussions, we need to have some precision about that which we are speaking.
When we talk of neo-pentecostalism and the traditional church, we are talking about the traditional church in terms of its theology--a theology that is based in a systematic, logical fashion on a view that is traditionally Arminian or Calvinistic. Main-line traditional churches stem from these two theological positions. Now to these systems has been added a Wesleyan persuasion which also is a systematic and logical conclusion of man concerning God and how man relates in Him.
When we talk about classical Pentecostalism, we think in terms of a relatively new expression of doctrine and faith in practice that is within this century. Classical Pentecostalism is different from Neo-Pentecostalism. In Classical Pentecostalism there is manifestation of gifts with Biblical content. The classical traditional mainline Pentecostal Church has insisted on content of belief and practice. It has insisted on the evangelical confessions concerning Christ, God, the Scriptures, regeneration, rebirth, conversion and justification. It has been insistent on the Biblical supportive content.
Neo-Pentecostalism is based upon external signs. It is experience oriented and mainly without content. The whole thrust is not on what man believes, nor upon the authority upon which he believes it, but upon that which he has experienced.
As a pastor viewing Neo-Pentecostalism in the traditional church, I must realize that true and simple Neo-Pentecostalism is existentialism. (It is not a systematic presentation; it is an experience-oriented life style, a life style with a very real attempt on the part of individuals to propagate that style and enlist others in that style, and in its most extreme manifestation to insist that that is the only authentic style.)
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Realizing that Neo-Pentecostalism is experience-oriented and persons young and old, mature and immature, are being pressured in the same framework that so much of contemporary society is being appealed to- "it's what you experience that is valid," I must relate, to this in positive fashion. I cannot engage in the luxury of reaction. I have to move and act deliberately, and positively in the spirit of God. So let me suggest to you these five areas in which I have acted and would act as a pastor.
I. In a teaching demonstrating ministry I would emphasize the true-marks of a Christian as they are related in the New Testament Biblical language. Now if you have had an occasion to read the United Brethren, I really have not stopped to check up to see how many of you ministerial students are receiving the United Brethren, you would have found an article at the first of the year entitled, "On Our Way to the Future." In that article, I suggested the hope that we who are United Brethren have arrived at a maturity where we could revert to the example and the genius of those who founded our church. Our church fathers united together not to maintain and preserve any theological decision, nor doctrinal practices, nor policy of church, but they united together around this simple affirmation "we are brethren." Otterbein and Boehm recognized in each other the one valid reason for their union - they were brothers together in Christ!
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(It is interesting to note from our point of view that their affirmation was made on Pentecost Sunday.)
Now I suggest to a congregation that our Lord set the mark of a Christian--it is love. You read in the gospel of John, that He established forever that the hallmark of the authenticity of His followers be love.
The world indeed, as related in the New Testament, recognizes those who are truly Christians by the manner in which they love one another. A man may be an impeccable Calvinist, an Arminian, Wesleyan, Pentecostal, or Neo-Pentecostal, but the hallmark of his Christian person is in the love of Christ having been shed abroad in his heart, in a measure that it shows. And so as a pastor, I would act to emphasize the true marks of a Christian. Jesus said "by their fruits you shall know them", and that is not the fruit of good works, it is not the fruit of the church to which he belongs, it is not the fruit of the right organization and the right words, but it is the indelible, undeniable fruit of the spirit--"love, gentleness, joy, peace, longsuffering, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."
II. Secondly, in a teaching demonstrating ministry I would emphasize content which is Biblically oriented concerning the Holy Spirit. Now an invitation has come to me to speak in another conference on this subject. In our own
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church this subject is a lively issue. I could have chosen to give them a systematic presentation based on my understanding of systematic theology concerning the Holy Spirit. But you see, systematic theology is a systematic logical presentation of doctrines about God, about His Word, about how He relates to man and about man. These doctrines are built upon basic premises. So a Calvanist starts from a view point concerning God and ordination and pre-destination and builds a whole case on it. It is systematic and it is logical. However, one's system of thought is like flying a rocket to the moon--if your premise is not right, you are going to miss it.
Now, let me say for the Arminian that he also begins with a certain premise and builds a systematic concept. But he could miss the moon too. So also Wesleyanism begins from a certain premise, and Pentecostalism begins from a certain premise. Therefore, I have rejected the idea that I can at this point in the history of the church explain satisfactorily our view point of the Holy Spirit through the systematic theological approach.
Now I could do as many are doing today. I could write a paper for that conference from the view point of experience. On the basis of how I have experienced the Holy Spirit, I could write a very neat presentation that would confirm it from the Scriptures. It would be an experience-oriented presentation.
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Neither of these approaches is entirely satisfactory. The surest way is to take the New Testament—beginning with the introduction in Matthew of the Holy Spirit as being the agency of God in bringing Jesus into the world of flesh and ending with the prayer in Revelation where the Spirit joins the Bride in the final invitation to the lost to know the grace of Christ--and present the Holy Spirit of the Scriptures.
I would present the content of the Holy Spirit as it is oriented in the Scripture. There are passages in the Scripture that deal differently with the presentation of truth. One can take the book of Acts and read of the experiences of men and begin to build a case and say this is the norm for the experience of all. But, God in His wisdom and through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, has also given us the epistles of Paul which are teaching epistles and carry with them the authority not of man's experience but God's divine instruction. And there is a distinct difference, as you realize, when you contrast Acts with Romans and in Corinthians in particular about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Now in preaching content, in teaching content, and in emphasizing content, I would be very careful to get beyond the book of Acts. And yet I know of pastors who preach on the Holy Spirit, year after year, series after series, and never get beyond the book of Acts. They never deal with Romans 8,12; I Corinthians 12,13,14; or Galatians 5.
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And there are so many other passages--all given for our instruction in understanding the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit: in our lives. They help us to balance the content of instruction against the feelings of experience, they bring the authority of the Word to bear upon how individuals feel.
III. Thirdly, in a teaching demonstrating ministry, I would emphasize the use of the gifts of the Spirit. I learned a long time ago in raising children that if I did not give my children an opportunity to express themselves as individuals, they soon gave me. reason to notice that they were persons by their behavior. I found this as a pastor, that if I ignore people in the congregation, they soon gave me reason to take notice of them. And when you ignore the gifts of the Spirit and do not make provision for their application and use in the congregation, then the people will draw the gifts of the Spirit to your attention, and it may be by means which are unpleasant, disruptive and divisive.
Now some scholars indicate that there are 20 different gifts of the Spirit mentioned in the Scriptures. Dependent on which list you want to use. But there is no doubt that Paul in his epistles lists many gifts of the Spirit. And those gifts are given for the edification of the church and for the. building of that body through the witness of the church. They are to be used. Granted, right here most of us
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run into difficulty in that we do not permit individuals to exercise the proper gifts they have been given. Emphasize the use of the gifts of the Spirit and be very sensitive, asking God the Spirit to reveal in you how He wishes to use individuals in your congregation to minister to the needs of that congregation. Now you see where this puts you. If you are a ministerial student, it means you are going to be no longer the focal point and the center, the only endowed and endued individual in the congregation,
IV. Fourthly, in a teaching demonstrating ministry, I would certainly emphasize the sovereignity of the Holy Spirit. It is He who gives the gifts as He will. I do not know whether or not you have read Your God Is Too Sma11, by J.B.Philips. One of the concepts of the God is too small thesis is the "God-in-a-box." How prone we are to put God in a box. We, United Brethren, put God in certain boxes too. At least we have in the past. We wrap Him up in a box of a certain customs, attitudes, and practices. We have a tendency to put the Holy Spirit in a box and forget that we are dealing with a sovereign God.
Whether you are Arminian or Calvanistic does not change one whit the Biblical perspective that God is God and God acts as God, not as man wishes He would act or thinks He ought to act. And God is never confined to our
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boxes whether they are systematic and logical or whether they are experience-oriented or interpretive-oriented. He acts as the sovereign and we must give room in the church for the Holy Spirit to act in His sovereignty. Now, when you start reacting to this matter of neo-pentecostalism or any other aberration whether you classify it as divisive, theoretical or what, you are putting God in a box and expecting Him to act according to your reaction. One of our church fathers gave us very good advice. He said, "Let the lion out of the cage, he'll defend himself." I've always found that to be true. That when God comes under attack He does not need my defense. All I have to do is let Him loose. Be sure that I have removed as far as I am able, every barrier to His operation and He will defend Himself. Believe this about the Holy Spirit. Let the Holy Spirit be sovereign.
V. Fifthly, in a teaching demonstrating ministry, I would emphasize open-mindedness and acceptance. This closes the circle and returns us to where we started. If the true mark of the Christian is love, then a pastor can do no better than to lead his congregation in the manifestation of love in accepting what God is doing in the lives of others.
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Love will avoid quenching the Spirit and hindering the work of God. Love will seek the expression and fellowship of all Spirit-filled and Spirit-led individuals in the common purpose of building up the body of Christ.
So the pastor of the traditionally oriented church will confront the demonstration of neo-pentecostalism in his church and community--not negatively and in condemnation but with positive demonstration and teaching. He would do well to hold before himself and his people the simple admonition: "Seek not, forbid not."
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