Why Three Streams? An overview of the reformation, evangelicalism and the pentecostal and charismatic movements.
Overview
Three of the most significant movements in church history have been the reformation, the evangelical movements with their associated revivals and the pentecostal and charismatic movements.
Each of these movements rediscovered significant truths which deeply impacted the church yet each of them have not been without their own cultural and theological baggage.
The reformation was probably the most significant, the reformers rediscovered the central message of the gospel; justification by faith. They replaced the Roman Catholic theology and superstitions of the day by giving central place to the holy scriptures. The bible was taken from the priests and given to the common masses. God’s Sovereignty was also given central place in the Christian church. These are some of the key things, although there are many others, that took place during the reformation.
Yet the reformers where not without their blind spots… although they renewed the Roman Catholic soteriology (teaching on sin and salvation) they left the Roman Catholic Ecclesiology (teaching about the church) largely untouched. Calvin’s Geneva and Knox’s Scotland is evidence that the reformers were still confused in regards to the relationship between church and state. The church was still a political vehicle, because of this evangelism and discipleship suffered. Instead of fulfilling the great commission the reformers sought to Christianize the nations of this world. The great commission was not carried out by gospel preaching and individual response but by enforcing Christianity upon the people of the ‘Christian nations’. There are many other things relating to church that the reformers left unchanged, for more detail check out Frank Viola and George Barna’s book Pagan Christianity.
The problems with the reformed church is what led to the evangelical movements and revivals. The separation of church and state, the emphasis on personal conversion and an attempt to work out the neglected truth of the priesthood of all believers was at the heart of the Wesleyan, baptist, brethren movements. Evangelism now challenged the notion of Christianizing, being born into a ‘Christian family’ was not evidence of conversion instead one had to be ‘born again’ and know it!
When the enthusiasm of the evangelicals began to wane off and their hopes of growth and impact where at a low ebb many began to seek God for more. Where was the power of the early church? Where was the church of Acts? A church made powerless by western rationalisation began to seek God afresh for the gift of the Holy Spirit, his accompanying gifts and power in order that they might take the gospel to the nations! And so we have the Pentecostals at the turn of the 19th century! They had a few generations of impact but they too began to die down and become subject to institutionalism and denominationalism. Yet their second key contribution was to impact the denominational churches in the 1970’s. All of a sudden the wider denominations began to embrace the gifts and presence of the Holy Spirit as understood, by and large, by the Pentecostals. This movement brought fresh renewal to the church yet it did not hold on to the strict theology of the Pentecostals by insisting that believers must speak with tongues.
What about today?
Well for the most part, I think, many protestants have abandoned justification by faith and the sovereignty of God. Many evangelicals have lost sight of not only their reformed foundations but their evangelical foundations! The bible is no longer their central text, they still want to ‘reach people’ but they have forgotten why people need to be reached in the first place. Some may speak of Jesus who can ‘change peoples lives’ but they don’t really articulate why lives need to be changed or how the bible teaches that Jesus changes lives! Sin, eternal judgement. wrath of God, curse of the law, atonement, blood of Jesus, repentance etc are all but forgotten terms! Yet they make up the heart of the gospel! How can this be?
Pentecostals and charismatics are still into the supernatural and the spiritual realm, but they too have suffered from the churches biblical amnesia. They know they are supposed to have power, but they seem to have forgotten what the power was for. They know that God does cool stuff, but they don’t seem to know that not everything that is ‘cool’ or ’spiritual’ is God! They still talk about Jesus, but this Jesus is often very far removed from the Lord Jesus Christ who is revealed in the Word of God. Recent events with Todd Bentley and the so called Lakeland revival is evidence of this fact.
I am aware that these are generalisations, and that many within these movements still hold to their theological tradition. However the truth is that this is the overall condition of these movements.
I would not be surprised if the church is is on the brink of a fourth reformation. However, if this reformation does not build upon the good of the previous moves and if it does not ditch the baggage of the previous moves then the reformation will be short lived. It will not be a reformation but simply just another passing fad. I’m sure the new reformation will touch on new areas that the former movements did not engage with. We have to be involved with a reformation that is responding to today’s issues not the issues of three hundred years ago. Many think we are still trying to escape from Roman Catholicism, this is ridiculous. Rome is not our threat today, our challenges, as followers of Christ, lie more within the areas of secular humanism, relativism, materialism, individualism, pluralism, eastern mysticism and so on.
The current theological void in the lives of individual Christians and within our congregations demonstrate that we as the church need to rediscover our biblical roots. Part of the protestant, evangelical and charismatic crisis could be healed if believers would return to their bibles. Its funny that in a generation where many individuals struggle with their identity and are asking ‘who am I?’ that many churches are doing the very same thing.
Why Three Streams? Well, the best of these movements have truths that were discovered in the bible. the bible is a ‘light to our path and a lamp for our feet’.
Stream One:Reformed Theology
This will remind us who God is. This is where we must start. Many of us get our ideas about God from all sorts of places, our pastor, our denomination, our culture, our subjective personal opinions, our parents, our friends or the back of a Corn Flakes box! Our faith begins and ends with God, this is the heart of reformed theology.
Secondly, it places the work of salvation in the right context. It will teach us how we can relate to this God whom we have come to hear about with our ears. Salvation is a work of God, freely given in Christ and received by faith.
Stream 2: Evangelicalism
This stream teaches us to study the word of God, keep Jesus central and go and make disciples! God may be sovereign, but in his sovereign purpose he has chosen to include us in his mission to reach the lost. Go and let your light shine, build your faith on the word of God and do what it says!
Stream Three: Pentecostalism/Charismatic
God is not distant. We can know intimacy with Christ. We can fellowship with the Holy Spirit. As we are filled by Him and led by Him we can walk in power. Basically we need God and his power and his gifts to do what he has called us to do. If The previous streams point to the outward work of Christ, this stream reminds us that Christ is also within us. He isn’t within us to remain as a spectator, he wants the driving seat of our lives!
Which Stream are you in?
Could you do with the correction and renewing that the other streams could provide?
Remember, the source of these streams is the fountain head, Christ Himself.
August 21st, 2008 at 1:24 pm
John - excellent insight. Love the new website. Love the YOUTUBE video on Pagan Christianity too.
September 11th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Speaking of “Pagan Christianity?”, the sequel is out now. It’s called “Reimagining Church”. It picks up where “Pagan Christianity” left off and continues the conversation. (“Pagan Christianity” was never meant to be a stand alone book; it’s part one of the conversation.) “Reimagining Church” is endorsed by Leonard Sweet, Shane Claiborne, Alan Hirsch, and many others. You can read a sample chapter at http://www.ReimaginingChurch.org. It’s also available on Amazon.com. Frank is also blogging now at http://frankviola.wordpress.com/.
April 15th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
I know you admit to generalisations but why three streams? I mean, why not four or five?
April 15th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
The problem with any ‘emphasis’ is that inevitably there will be something you will miss or not include. This is true in all contexts. Who, in expounding a test of scripture will draw aou all there is to be drawn out?
Why three streams? I assume you have read the ‘about’ section in the home page and that your statement is more an attempt to make a point and not ask a question. So Why Three Streams?
The three last ‘movements’ to make significant global, theological. missional and spiritual impacts have been 1)the reformation, 2) the evangelical revivals (or in American terms the great awakening)30 the pentcostal/charismatic movements.
Three streams is about recognising the contributions that each of these movements have made to the church and the world. Often a believer in one stream will reject the contributions of the other streams. There is strengths and weaknesses in all three but much that can be gained from all three.
April 15th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
It was a genuine question with, I suppose, a sharpened edge.
The problem is, how do you select your movements? An historical survey would show more than these three, so how do you decide which to include and which to exclude? As you note, an emphasis tends to exclude. Balance, then, is found through more movements not less. Yet balance also can become an emphasis and equilibrium may be sought where an extreme is required.
This is why I asked the question. I think I understand what you are trying to do but I don’t know why you have stopped with the reformation, revivalism and Pentecostalism. There are great insights to be had from all areas of the Christian church notwithstanding the fact that in some more error is found than truth.
Andrew
April 15th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Which ‘movements’ do you feel are lacking?
From a historical perspective, ‘movements’ of any significance seem to come under these three headings 1) protestant reformation 2) The Rise of Evangelicalism 3) Pentecostal and Charismatic. These three movements have changed the shape of the Christian church and indeed the world like no other.
I really do not know which other ‘movements’ to which you refer that have had such sociological and theological impact as these three movements.
April 16th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
What about the Eastern church, German liberalism, Modern liberalism, Barthianism, Fundamentalism, Pietism, Patristic theology, Medieval theology. This is cursory I’m sure there are others. I don’t know why you have excluded these, is it because their impact wasn’t large enough or they have nothing to teach us for good or bad?
To be clear I am not saying that these are lacking, I just don’t understand why they have been excluded.
April 16th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Hi Andrew thanks for the clarification.
There are a number of things I could say in response.
Do some of these sections of the church have something to teach us? Of course they do. I deeply appeciated the work of Barth when studying the Trinity and Ethics during my BD.
However, I am an evangelical and I write primarily for evangelicals. Each of the three movements I have mentioned are essentially evangelical movements.
In regards to liberalism, it will get addressed in this blog, but not positively. Liberalism has done much to undermine the cause of Christ in our generation.
Ultimately, the aim of this blog is not a historical study of every nuance of church history. It primarily seeks to draw insights from reformation, evngelical and charismatic theology for the benefit of the contemporary and established church. Where other movements or sects further this cause they will recieve attention.
April 16th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
The point I have been trying to make, though poorly, with my questions is that we are invariably committed to our own’ streams’. The reason I listed the mixed bag of theological movements was because we are more willing to learn from some than others, our theological commitments parse who we will and will not listen to. This is not wrong, it is just the way it is. Because of this our own constructions tend to be self-serving. Reformed Cessationists don’t find much help in the charismatic movement and similarly your three streams show your prior commitment to a Charismatic understanding of the Holy Spirit and it’s relative importance for the Christian church.
This is fair enough if you are just trying to show what we can learn from Charismatic theology or the revivalist theology but if you are suggesting that what the Christian church needs is a synthesis of these three streams then I think that becomes special pleading for doctrines you hold dear and it is in this context you must defend your three streams against others I mentioned - in other words you must answer my original question, why three streams and not four or five?
From your last reply I think you mean the first of these. Which I admit was not what I originally had concluded.
Anyhow, thanks for your patience in dealing with my questions.
Andrew
April 22nd, 2009 at 2:13 am
Hey bro - like what you’ve got going here. My site (above) will be moving to join my band’s site soon (http://www.SaintLewisMusic.com), but you may still find something there of interest to you. Hope all is well - blessings!
April 24th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Hey I like what I see here. I am pentecostal charismatic myself, but a year ago I read sermon that changed my life, Sinners in the hands of an angry God. I cried out to God, where is that today! Why is our preaching so weak and so mancentered!? So now as I pentecostal preacher, I have been going back to those other 2 streams you mentioned and wondering why I have never heard or been taught about these great principles and great men of God? So this very thing about the 4th or new type of reformation has already started to take place in the hearts of the lovers of God! I want to preach like Spurgeon, have zeal like Whitfield, influence like Wesley, and move in the power of the spirit like Smith Wigglesworth!!
April 25th, 2009 at 1:00 am
Thanks to Shannon and Drew for your encouragement!
Drew, I’d be interested to know more as it all sounds really interesting!