As I was reading through Don Williams' explanation of Charismatic Worship, I was pleasantly surprised at how much we agree on things! For starters, I was very grateful for him walking through the history of the charismatic movement. It's good to see where a movement starts and its changes along the way. What I found most surprising was how orthodox his section about theology was. Listen to some of these statements:
"Charismatic worship, then, finds its source in the Father, is mediated through the Son, and is empowered and led by the Spirit. It makes Paul's dictum real: 'For we are the true circumcision, who worship God in spirit ['by the Spirit of God,' NIV), and glory in Christ Jesus.' (Phil. 3:3 RSV) True charismatic worship is not human-centered or emotion-centered... Honoring the Son honors the Father and keeps charismatic worship from becoming Unitarian or Binitarian by neglecting one member of the Trinity for another." (p 145) Francis Chan wrote a book on this called Forgotten God, which speaks of the church neglecting the Holy Spirit altogether.
"The personal effects of this worship are transformative. The Spirit indwells believers to change them to become more like Christ. The spirit searches the hearts of God's people, exposing sin and pain, bringing forgiveness and healing. Paul expects worship to renew our minds (Rom 12:2). As New Testament theologian Tom Wright teaches, we become like what we worship. If we worship the idols of our age, we become like them. If we worship the triune God, we become like him, incorporated into his community of eternal, holy love."(p 146)
"Increasing Christlikeness breeds incrreasing intimcacy with God. We are broken before him in our sin and raised up to be like him in his grace. As we are with him, we become more and more like him, going from "glory to glory" (2 Cor. 3:18 NKJV). Now we know his voice; then we will see his face. We grow up in Christ in order to go out to this world. Worship leads to witness. The Spirit empowers us for missions: the evangelization of the world."
Now, I definitely would disagree on his comments about how the Holy Spirit ministers in the worship setting, especially concerning gifts. I would strongly disagree. One point I'd like to hit on that I'm curious as to what he meant: when he says on page 152 to write to the culture "the Gospel in its own idiom", should we really be trying to do that or should we be seeking to keep Biblical language at the forefront of worship? I'm not quite sure what he meant, so some feedback would be nice.
All in all though, I'm very happy to see that though we disagree in certain issues, that ultimately we are "together for the Gospel." I also wonder what the Evangelical Church at-large can be doing to have more ecumenical support and unity in the things that matter: working together to do Great-Commission work together for our one Lord, Jesus Christ. Any thoughts?
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