A conservative evangelical conference?

Posted at 10:49 AM

Early on in the week we were given a copy of Evangelicals Now, where the lead article was about New Word Alive. The opening sentence reads:

New Word Alive has become the premier conference for conservative evangelicals in Britain.

It was interesting during the week to hear various speakers (don’t ask me which ones off the top of my head) refer to us all as “conservative evangelicals”. Now, in my mind, I heard this as “conservative rather than liberal”, but in common usage the term has the sense of “conservative rather than charismatic”, so I was somewhat surprised at the vocabulary.

However, perhaps this is a sign that “conservative evangelicals” now regard “charismatic evangelicals” as part of their “crowd”. Nigel Beynon wrote most of the EN article (the first two sentences are an editorial addition), and he says this:

In the past there has often been a division between Word and Spirit, so that you are either a Bible Christian or a Spirit Christian. I get the impression that many now see that that is a false distinction. After all, ‘the sword of the Spirit is the word of God’ (Ephesians 6.17). If we want to experience the power of the Spirit we must let him use his sword on us!

Later on, describing the distinctives of the conference, he says that the first distinctive…

…is evangelical unity. It’s hard to read ‘history’ when you are in it, but there are some signs that we are witnessing a realignment of movements at the moment. The old markers of ‘conservatives’ and ‘charismatics’ don’t fit so well these days, as we find there are many from the ‘other camp’ with whom we have lots in common: the cross of Jesus, the authority of the Bible, the sovereignty of God and the urgency of evangelism – these things unite us.

Confronted with the wide range of opponents to the gospel we face today, we can ill afford to withdraw into fractured groups. Rather, we must find unity and strength together, and New Word Alive is a place to do that. We are unashamed of our core convictions and will give them the emphasis they should rightly have. Meanwhile, we might disagree over various secondary issues, but with a spirit of humility and generosity we can learn together and learn from each other.

Adrian Warnock wrote a few weeks ago:

…throughout most of my Christian life I was defined as clearly not belonging to that group [namely conservative evangelicals]. Conservatives were by definition it seemed not charismatic, and I would have held them in as much suspicion as they would no doubt have held me. But, as the bridges have been built, and the neoliberal assaults have unfolded, I do think that bible-believing people from many different backgrounds have been finding that we have more in common with each other than we previously realised. The internet and conferences such as Together For The Gospel, The Gospel Coalition, and New Word Alive have all been a major force for that discovery.

His post is titled “Is This A Conservative Evangelical Blog?” and is worth reading the whole thing. (He also defines what he means by neoliberals). It seems to me that people up front at New Word Alive are operating with this “conservative as opposed to liberal” definition¹.

This can only be a good thing! What are secondary issues doing attached to how we refer to ourselves as Christians? I don’t call myself a “credobaptist evangelical”, or a “Calvinist evangelical”. (There is such a thing as a Reformed evangelical, though I’ve never been absolutely sure whether that implies paedobaptism or not.) If I’m asked where I stand on something, I’ll say, but certain terms can pigeonhole us unhelpfully.

In fact, in many respects I’d happily describe myself as a charismatic. Adrian defines a charismatic as one who has a “belief in the continuation of spiritual gifts” – well, I’d go with that! I’m in a culturally “non-charismatic” church, but I’d be surprised to find that the leadership were cessationist, and I’m definitely not. On our feedback forms at the end, we were asked to tick boxes to describe our church. Two of the options were “Theologically conservative” and “Theologically charismatic”. I crossed out “theologically” on the first and wrote “culturally”, and then ticked both. Not a perfect description, but when summarising beliefs in boxes it’s never going to be.

Adrian writes elsewhere:

I genuinely believe that we have much to learn from each other. For too long different wings of the church have ignored each other.

Nigel has a related comment:

[W]e might disagree over various secondary issues, but with a spirit of humility and generosity we can learn together and learn from each other.

Amen to that! That’s one reason I love New Word Alive. This year I’ve been challenged by many “outside my constituency” as it were – and that’s great! More on this soon.

¹ Incidentally, I think the EN quote is referring to “conservatives as opposed to charismatics”, but in doing so is not implying that the conference is exclusively for conservatives – merely that for conservatives, it’s the “premier” choice.

Learning from the charismatic movement

Posted at 10:10 AM

Here is Dave Bish’s summary of Dan Edelen’s analysis of the needs of the charismatic movement. I’ve seen charismatic theology accompanied by Scripture being ignored or misused, a selfishness shown in seeking emotional experiences with little internal change, a very Old Testament view of Christian worship and Christian meetings (namely, the two are far more connected than Romans 12 and Hebrews 10 would have us believe) and a lack of discernment (shown most clearly in ignoring or expressing irritation at the testing and weighing of teaching by others). Two things to say, then.

Firstly, praise God that these problems are by no means universal! It’s years since my first encounters with the charismatic movement, and since then I’ve read and listened to many, many charismatic speakers who have all helped instil in me a deeper love and a better understanding of God, a greater day-to-day experience of God, and a greater love of the Bible, but more importantly, Christ. It’s brilliant to hear that those in the movement are as concerned about parts of it as I am, as there’s no way I’m ever going to be listened to! It’s also brilliant that those in the charismatic movement are effectively shaking up many conservative Christians and getting them excited once more about God’s sovereign plan for the world. Conservative authors and speakers like Jim Packer have been calling for deep relationships with God for years; in my case, at least, it took the charismatics I know to get through to me! Recently, it’s mostly through charismatic writers and bloggers that I’ve grown to love God more and love Scripture more, and learnt to be more discerning, more loving and more accepting of those different from me.

Secondly, the striking thing is that each of Dan’s points has to do with a loss of focus on Jesus and his importance. This particularly hit home because I recognise that I can do exactly the same things. Very easily can I slip into a pattern of life that sidelines Jesus, or make the things I read all about abstract issues and not about Jesus. Rather than over-emphasise the Spirit, I can over-emphasise the Bible as an end in itself, and theology as a pursuit for its own sake, rather than both as a way to know and love Jesus better. I may not make the mistakes as publicly as some in the charismatic movement, but I make them all the same, in my own, quiet, conservative evangelical way.

In summary, these problems are by no means universal in the charismatic movement, and they’re not specific to it either. So let’s all throw out dry and boring theology and teaching; let’s recover passionate preaching about Christ from his Word, and let’s live whole lives for God’s glory, enjoying his presence with us, through good times and bad. Let’s not expect things to be easy; let’s not forget our flesh is sinful; but let’s remember that God has given us new hearts, and he gives us the grace we need for each day. Let’s keep our eyes on Jesus, and remember that both the Spirit and the Bible point to him and help us to know him and love him more.

Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD;
his going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us as the showers,
as the spring rains that water the earth. (Hosea 6:3, ESV)