The Church is Charismatic as Well as Holy

This is the second of four posts reviewing Howard Snyder's Decoding the Church, a book looking at the DNA of the church. Historically, the four marks of the church: one, holy, catholic, and apostolic - have given the church its genetic code. Snyder's contention is that these are only half of the code, and true to the form of DNA, there are four complementary characteristics.

The same Holy Spirit who sanctifies the church invests it with diverse gifts. It is the Holy Spirit who gives gifts. The church functions best with both the fruit and the gifts of the Spirit, incarnating both the character and the charisma of Jesus. Several Scriptures directly link the holy (sacred or set-apart) character of the church with its being a gift-endowed community of the Spirit (Acts 1:8, Heb 2:4, 1 Peter 2:9). The church is also described in Scripture as holy and charismatic (Acts 4:31, 9:31, I Corinthians 3:16).

Historically, the church has found it hard to hold these two characteristics together, both in theology and in practice. Church history offers various examples of the tensions at this point. For example, consider the early twentieth century split in the Holiness Movement that produced modern-Day Pentecostalism. It seems that the church has difficulty holding the fruit and the gifts of the Spirit together in creative balance.

A comment made to me recently in the context of a meeting with a potential client reinforced this. Speaking of the changes that he had observed in his church and the general religious climate, he depicted two churches: a "God church" where worship was proscribed, programs were in place, and you were expected to follow the status quo. There was also a "Jesus church", where you reached out to those different than you, and made intentional efforts to impact people's lives in positive ways that reflected Christ's love. I thought that was a brilliant comment and analysis!

What about your church? Do you experience this tension of holy and charismatic? Just as importantly, what about you? After all, you, individually, are a part of the body of Christ!