Archive: Evangelicals: A Return to their Liturgical Roots

by Steve | Jul 1, 1986 | Archive - 1986

Archive: Evangelicals: A Return to their Liturgical Roots

EVANGELICALS ON THE CANTERBURY TRAIL
(Why Evangelicals Are Attracted to the Liturgical Church)
by Robert E. Webber
(Jarrell/Word, $12.95)

Do you recognize in our private worship the existence of a sense of mystery that is missing in the or hip of your local church.

Do you ever ponder the difference between God centered and man-centered worship?

Do you feel the need or a kind of worship that is larger than yourself?

Do you experience a sense of separation from the rest of the Christian world?

Do you, as a Christian, have the personal authority to decide what it means to be orthodox?

Do you have difficult relating to your parent or children your choice of a Christian tradition that is different from theirs?

These are questions that six evangelical Christians ask as they relate their personal journey toward the “liturgical” church. These are not fly-by-night pilgrims. They represent adults who grew up in fundamental and conservative tradition, graduating from schools like Prairie Bible Institute, Mood Bible Institute, Wheaton College, Gordon College, Andrews University and Duke University. The author professor of theology at Wheaton College and a former Baptist, is now an Episcopal layperson. Webber’s book is divided into two sections. The second section consists of the testimonies of these six pilgrims. In the first section Webber relates the whys of his own journey into the liturgical church.

In general, the book is about evangelicals returning to mainline denominations—Episcopal, Presbyterian, Lutheran—and Methodist. Since the author cites Methodism as part of “the Canterbury Trail,” it might be beneficial to consider some of the relevant distinction of Methodism.

When people became Methodists in the day of Wesley they were already members of the Anglican church. So by becoming Methodists they were attaching themselves not to a church but to a disciplined, religious society for bettering their spiritual condition. However, the Revolutionary War in America did form the colonial Methodists into a separate church.

And what kind of affirmations do these American Methodists still make about their church? The Preamble to the Constitution of United Methodists gives a good summary:

The Church is a community of all true believers under the Lordship of Christ. It is the redeemed and redeeming fellowship in which the Word of God is preached by persons divinely called, and the Sacraments are duly administered according to Christ’s own appointment. Under the discipline of the Holy Spirit the Church seeks to provide for the maintenance of worship, the edification of believers and the redemption of the world.

The Church of Jesus Christ exists in and for the world, and its very dividedness is a hindrance to its mission in that world.

What Webber was searching for, Methodism historically possesses. Webber gives six aspects of orthodoxy that had not heretofore been adequately fulfilled in his Christian experience: mystery, worship, sacraments, spiritual identity, an ecclesiastical home and a holistic spirituality. Each one of these aspects of Webber’s search can be identified in the Preamble to the United Methodist constitution.

What Webber discovered is that much of what has been forgotten in the Christian faith needs to be recovered.

Mystery: a deep encounter with God in Christ through experience; not an evangelical rationalism and proof-texting Christianity.

Worship: directed toward God, celebrating Christ; not centered around the pastor, education or entertainment.

Sacrament: a way of encountering the mystery; not our sign of faith directed toward God but His sign directed toward us.

Spiritual identity: a family tree that begins with Jesus Christ and continues with the universal Church through the ages; not with the monopoly of a particular religious label.

Ecclesiastical home: a healthy sense of unity and diversity, which holds the Church together; not that which separates and divides the Church.

Holistic spirituality: the attempt to integrate Christ with all of life; not merely with a spirituality of conversation, rules, intellectual believism, or ethical mission.

Maybe Webber is right when he says that readers of the book may identify with the Canterbury pilgrims and try to incorporate some of their practices into their own traditions. If the book helps recover any of Methodism’s past, and can be responsibly accepted, then Evangelicals On the Canterbury Trail can certainly become the work of God’s grace. In recounting his trek, however. Webber does not ask others to join him, only that they understand his and others’ experiences.

Here is a superior book for personal inquiry, a basis for a dynamic approach to understanding the nature of the Church and the function of worship.

Reviewed by Donald C. Boyd, Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship, Asbury Theological Seminary.

CALLED TO CARE
by Doug Stevens
(Zundervan. $9. 95)

In a newsletter from the United Methodist Board of Discipleship, the denomination’s director for Development of Youth Ministry, Dr. Leo Rippy, writes: “I envision congregations with strong structures for your ministry programming—congregations linked in significant ways to the resources, personnel and support of equally strong structures at the district and conference levels. … This is not just a personal vision, a private dream. This is an understanding and reality for youth ministry that is coming alive in congregations, districts and conferences across the United Methodist Church” (from Youth Ministry Resource Exchange. No. 1, Board of Discipleship).

As one who shares Dr. Rippy’s vision, I am concerned that we take deliberate steps to make that vision a reality. So far, our pattern in the UM Church has been more talk than action, more dream than scheme!

If the vision is going to be fleshed out, we will have to do some serious thinking about where we are now and where we want to go. A helpful tool for this evaluation process might be Doug Stevens’ recently published Called to Care (Youth Specialties Zondervan).

Stevens begins the book by presenting four youth ministry scenarios that have become all too common in our congregations:

(1) The youth ministry program is launched with great intentions, genuine enthusiasm, but it “never takes hold.” Frustrated leaders lose their steam, the kids go AWOL, and another youth program bites the dust. (2) The program staggers along with the support of only a few kids who prefer the sanctuary of the church to their own native culture—a program that gets the church “off the hook” but doesn’t get too many kids off the street. (3) After a strong start based on some incidental factors—a charismatic leader or a great kick-off retreat—the program fizzles and dies. making it twice as hard to boost enthusiasm for starting the program up again. Or (4) in rare cases, God breaks all the rules and takes a program that is doing everything wrong and does a wonderful work through it!

In the wake of these scenarios are churches who.se visions and dreams for youth ministry grow sour. Unfortunately, for many UM churches that may be a pretty thorough statement of “where we are now.”

If the book stopped there, it wouldn’t be worth buying. But the greatest contribution of Called to Care is that it moves on to give both lay and professional youth workers some clear direction toward “where we want to go.” Stevens’ opening chapters give what may be the clearest and most concise statement of youth ministry philosophy in print anywhere.

A philosophy of youth ministry, says Stevens, must meet the four criteria of being: (1) Biblical, (2) relevant, (3) comprehensive and (4) practical. In a chapter titled “Youth Ministry: What It Is,” he describes in clear terms what such a youth ministry looks like.

Later chapters provide a thorough examination of youth culture and a layman’s guide to adolescent psychology. Stevens’ years of youth ministry experience are readily apparent in this portion of the book as he discusses some of the elements of youth culture that might be alien and intimidating to lay youth workers new to youth ministry.

Especially helpful is Stevens’ chapter entitled “Soundings.” It offers a concise but credible survey of such issues as rock music, teenage sexuality, problem behavior and the culture of “me-ism.”

Subsequent chapters take the reader into some of the more practical issues related to youth ministry. These are the issues that so often get left out of other youth ministry books, issues like program organization and design, how to minister effectively with non-Christian kids, how to handle crises and how to make effective use of media. Stevens’ straight-forward, practical discussions bring these areas within reach of even the least experienced youth worker.

My delight in seeing such topics addressed is muted only by the fact that the author does not discuss them in adequate depth. That is the greatest weakness of this book. Stevens apparently could not decide whether to give us a general book with an overview of youth ministry and youth ministry philosophy or a “how-to” manual that explores, in-depth, various aspects of ministry with youth.

This is a common mistake in youth ministry books. probably because the more a book covers. the easier it is to sell. But in trying to cover some of these areas in minimal space. Stevens has not done them justice.

I do know, however, that the publisher already has plans for a companion volume that will look more specifically at the organizational and “how-to” dimensions of youth ministry. Together, these two books will provide good coverage of most of the bases. For now, Stevens has given us a fine start.

It takes more than a vision at the Board of Discipleship for effective youth ministry to happen in our congregations. More even than sound youth ministry philosophy and technique. But these are the kinds of “dry bones” necessary to provide a structure. so that when the Spirit of God does blow. the “dry bones” can come alive in a way that will bring new life to teenagers.

Reviewed by Duffy Robins

SHAPED BY THE WORD: THE POWER OF SCRIP TURE IN SPIRITUAL FORMATION
by M. Robert Mulholland, Jr.
(The Upper Room, $7.95)

While evangelicals have long emphasized the need for devotional life, recent years have seen the sharp rise of interest in the larger idea of “spiritual formation.” M. Robert Mulholland describes this as the process of being conformed to the image of Christ, and devotes his book to the role of Scripture in spiritual formation. Mulholland is Dean of Theology and Associate Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary. Here, however, he wears the hats of the spiritual director and caring pastor, encouraging his readers to change not only their approach to the Bible but also their approach to life!

In Mulholland’s view, what is required today is not another “how-to” manual for opening the treasures of the Bible. While late in his study he devotes a chapter each to Wesley’s guidelines for reading Scripture and the practice of “spiritual reading,” he is nevertheless much more interested in the attitudes, motives and preconceptions we bring to the Bible. Thus the majority of Shaped by the Word is given over to his call for a radical shift in how we “know” and “experience” life. One of the most helpful and prominent aspects of this discussion is Mulholland’s distinction between reading scripture for “information” (with emphasis on technique, speed and mastery of the text) and for “formation” (with emphasis on depth and openness to the voice of God).

A second interesting and central aspect of Mulholland’s discussion deals with his understanding of how the Bible functions. His emphasis here falls on the “iconographic nature of Scripture”—that is, the character of scripture as an image or picture through which God communicates His Word. In some ways this is a helpful perspective from which to view the Bible (reminiscent of Karl Barth’s theology of the Word of God), for God’s Word is a dynamic which transcends paper and ink and meets us where we are. On the other hand, we may wonder if this perspective on the Bible really constitutes a forward move for spiritual formation in classical Christianity.

It may be argued that this view leaves open the possibility of gross abuse of the Biblical texts. Mulholland relates his own experience of reading the story of Jesus’ anointing at Bethany (Mark 14:3-9). In the midst of reading this passage, he tells us that God turned his attention to the fact that the woman “broke the bottle” containing the precious ointment. Mulholland said he then realized God was telling him that even though he had poured out to God what was precious in his own life, he had not “broken the bottle.” Hence he was still capable of filling his “bottle” with more precious things. He needed to “break the bottle” if he was to be given wholly to God. No doubt God could have been teaching this lesson, and it is a good lesson. But is this the message of this text? Does not this approach to the Bible open the possibility for bending the Scriptures to our own purposes, for tearing the Word of God from its own dynamic, historical context? Does this approach not open the door to the sort of allegorizing and spiritualizing of the Scripture which Protestant Christianity has long held at arm’s length?

We may ask Mulholland also about his intended audience. Numerous occurrences of the technical language of the spiritual formation discipline make it doubtful that the everyday Christian will find this book easy reading. “Iconographic,” “kairotic existence,” “centering down,” “mode of being” and “focal” are some of the terms used regularly which may make Shaped by the Word seem foreign to many.

Ultimately, however, we must recognize the significance of this book in breaking potentially fruitful ground in the use of the Bible for spiritual formation. And we must applaud its continual emphasis on obedience over the longhaul—a much-needed word in a culture geared toward the instant.

Reviewed by Joel B. Green, a United Methodist minister and assistant professor of New Testament at New College for Advanced Christian

Archive: What Every Christian Should Know About Self-Esteem

by Steve | May 3, 1986 | Archive - 1986

Archive: What Every Christian Should Know About Self-Esteem

by William P. Wilson, M.D.

The woman kneeling in front of me nodded agreement as I prayed: “Lord, Mary feels so dirty and despoiled. Let her know that she has been cleansed. She has been washed in Your blood, and now she doesn’t have the dark blots on her soul that she had before You came into her life.

“Let her see herself clothed in the garments of righteousness that You gave her. Let her believe that You have accepted her unconditionally, no matter what happened to her in the past. Take away her feelings that she is dirty and unworthy. Let Your love flow through her to affirm her worth.”

While I continued to pray, tears streamed down Mary’s cheeks as she released the pent-up shame, hurt, and anger that had been bottled up in her since childhood.

Mary was a victim of incest. Her father had sexually abused her from the time she was 12 until age 15. During this time, Mary knew in her heart that the incestuous relationship was wrong. But she didn’t know what to do about it.

Eventually her father stopped abusing her, but the damage was done. Thereafter, Mary saw herself as dirty, despoiled, and loathsome.

Because no corrective had ever been applied to her erroneous evaluation of herself, Mary had always seen herself negatively. Mary had low self-esteem.

Self-esteem is determined largely by the things that happen to us in our lives, especially in childhood. Mary had been abused sexually, but others are abused emotionally, physically, or verbally. Verbally abused children come to believe that they are whatever they may have been called: “dumb,” “stupid,” “lazy”, “slut,” “whore.”

Another woman, Sally, was a secretary who worked for me. She was quite efficient, an excellent typist, and extremely reliable. Unfortunately, she had a negative attitude toward patients, and it angered many of them.

I knew I had to do something to help Sally change her approach with patients. Talking with her about the problem was of no avail. Finally I decided that I would affirm Sally in every way I could.

I resolved to find something for which to praise or compliment her every day for three months. If she had not improved at the end of that time, I would have to ask her to transfer to a job that didn’t involve patient contact.

One morning, about two weeks into my campaign, I came into the office and noticed that Sally’s hair had been cut and restyled, and that she was wearing a new pantsuit.

As soon as I noticed, I asked her to stand up so I could see her new outfit better. Then I complimented her on her appearance.

I had hardly gotten the words out of my mouth when Sally began to cry. I asked her why.

“Dr. Wilson,” she said, “you are the first person who has ever told me I looked attractive. My daddy always told me I was ugly and didn’t know how to dress. … My husband never tells me anything.”

I don’t need to tell you the end of the story. As Sally found out that her view of herself was based on lies, she became a different person. And she began relating lovingly to my patients.

Our world is full of Marys and Sallys. However, such abuse is not the cause of all low self-esteem. Much of it has its origin in rejection, love withdrawal, or failure to love.

Parents reject children in many ways: by telling them that Mom or Dad doesn’t love them, by telling children they are burdens, or making them feel that they are burdens.

Less overtly, parents may reject their children by ignoring them. Countless numbers of today’s children experience rejection from parents who are so wrapped up in their own lives that they spend very little time with their children.

The increasing problem of divorce also causes many children to feel rejected and, thus, not worthy of love. Because a loving relationship with one’s father is essential to good self-esteem, his desertion is likely to give rise to low self-love. Children of divorce are at greater risk than others of developing psychiatric problems in childhood, adolescence, or in adult life.

Finally, physical defects can cause low self-esteem. Many people who are crippled or deformed, who have strawberry marks, hairy moles, hare lips and/or cleft palates, as well as other stigmata, may be shunned, teased, or ridiculed by their peers. This kind of rejection can produce low self-worth.

In recent years, a flood of books and articles has been written on the subject of self-esteem. Many of them offer valuable insights. But a lot of this material is less than helpful, and Christians should approach it with discernment.

For example, some of the most widely circulated books on self-esteem are based on the idea that “you’ll become rich and successful if you can just see yourself rightly.” Such thinking is not compatible with Christian beliefs. Our Lord tells us not to lay up treasures on earth but to lay them up in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21). The writer of Hebrews exhorts us to be satisfied with what we have, for God will always take care of our needs (Hebrews 13:5).

Other writings on self-esteem focus too narrowly, on just one aspect of the subject. For example, they might focus exclusively on either the psychological, social, or spiritual foundations of self-esteem.

I am convinced that only when we use God’s standards of evaluation are we able to deal effectively with the problem of low self-esteem. But to use God’s standards, we have to look at ourselves wholistically, and not focus on just one aspect of our nature. With that in mind, let’s look at: (1) the concept of self, (2) factors that determine self-esteem, and (3) the spiritual aspects of self-esteem.

The concept of self

Self is the whole of us. It is the person that we are. It is our body and all of its parts (corpus), our biological drives (sarx), and our soul (psyche) which is made up of our intellect, emotions, and the animating force that drives us, called spirit (pneuma). Derived from soul and spirit is our will.

In addition to these basic components, our self-concept is formed in part by how we view ourselves in regard to our natural talents and abilities, such as musical and artistic talent, athletic prowess, or mathematical aptitude. And, as we have already seen, our self-concept—our understanding of who we are as persons—is influenced by a host of other factors, especially in the childhood years.

More specifically, though, what are some of the key determinants that contribute to a healthy view of ourselves?

Factors that determine self-esteem

We can do little to change our basic nature, but what we can do is direct it appropriately. This we learn to do as we are disciplined in childhood. I am using discipline here, in the broadest sense, to mean instruction (Ephesians 6:4), for real discipline includes instruction as well as rewards and punishment.

Discipline provides us with the coping mechanisms that help us live in an environment which is both nurturant and dangerous. To master the environment, we need knowledge that includes our value systems as well as emotional control. Both help us develop the social skills needed to live in harmony with others. The ability to cope with the environment, then, is a necessity if we are to have good self-esteem.

Scientific studies have observed that high self-esteem is found in children of parents who have it themselves. Also, parents with high self-regard almost always want their children. The degree of “wantedness” with which a child is received in the family is another determinant of high self-esteem. Parents who want their children almost always provide the unconditional love children need to develop good self-esteem.

Peers also play an important role in determining self-esteem. As the child is socialized into the larger community of his culture, his peers tend to force conformity to their standards.

It is with peers that the child with defects may have the most problems. When a child is markedly different in physical appearance, intelligence, dress, behavior, or athletic ability, he or she is likely to be overtly or covertly rejected by peers.

A spouse is an important determinant in the maintenance of self-esteem. Often, a person who appraises herself negatively cannot believe or accept affirmation. So, she selects a mate who also appraises her negatively. But, on the other hand, the low self-lover might select a mate who accepts and affirms her. If so, her self-esteem will be enhanced.

When constantly demeaned, criticized, or belittled by a spouse, even persons with high self-esteem may come to doubt their worth. The maintenance of good or poor self-esteem is greatly influenced by a good or bad marriage.

Any or all of these environmental factors can influence the way we view ourselves, and thus produce tendencies toward either high or low self-esteem. Christians believe, however, that environment is not the whole story. Self-esteem can be profoundly influenced by a right relationship with God.

Spiritual aspects of self-esteem

Without God we are essentially left with only the world’s appraisal as the mechanism that determines our self-worth. But to be loved unconditionally by Him, and to feel the wantedness and acceptance that His kingdom can afford us, will help us value ourselves rightly.

If you have not accepted God’s appraisal of you, but have continued to believe the lies of those who have viewed you negatively, there is something you can do about it. The first step is to correct any distorted concepts of the image of God in you. These distortions often arise out of negative experiences with parents in the childhood years.

Make a list of your vices and virtues, your assets and liabilities, perfections and imperfections. Then ask yourself if the negative aspects you’ve listed really make a difference in your acceptance by the majority of people in the world around you, especially those to whom you relate most often. Next, begin to apply the corrective of the truth revealed by God in His Word to the list of lies you have believed. For example:

God has declared every one of us to be of infinite worth. He sent His Son to die for us so that we might have eternal life (John 3:16). Jesus explained that there is no love greater than that manifested when a person gives up his life for his friends. And that’s what Jesus did for us (John 15:13-14).

We also know that God has given us His Spirit to guide and direct our lives (Romans 5:5; 8:14-17), to comfort us (II Corinthians 1:3-7), and to help heal the negative aspects of our personality so we can have the peace that He promised us (John 14:27).

God has promised to raise us up to rule with Christ in the heavenly realm (Ephesians 2:6), and in so doing He has made us princes and princesses. Then to top it all off, He has given us all of the things that He gave the Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:18-19).

God has also given us the privilege of addressing Him as “Daddy” (Abba), and has given us His Spirit to declare that we are His children (Romans 8:15, 16). Those of us who love our children know that the ideal parent-child relationship is characterized by unconditional acceptance. When we view our own children, we recognize and accept their negative attributes and try to help them overcome these defects. God does the same thing for us!

Remember Mary, the woman whose self-esteem had been crippled by incest? Although she had a well-proportioned figure and a pretty face, she could never believe that any young man would want to date her. Even when they asked her out, she refused because she feared they would reject her if they ever found out her secret.

By the time her father quit abusing her, the emotional pain had become so great that Mary began to smoke marijuana for relief. She felt guilty about the drug use, though. So in time she turned to God for help. It was during this search for help that she attended the conference where I was speaking.

During my lecture I said that God could heal even the effects of incest, an act that inflicts one of the deepest wounds on the human soul that I encounter. Mary realized then that there was a way out.

I gave an invitation to come forward for healing prayer, and Mary was one of the first to come. She headed straight for me. For the first time in her life she knew she could pour out her soul, and she did!

After I had heard her confession, we prayed. God answered. Mary was healed of both her low self-esteem and her need for marijuana. She became the new person God had created her to be.

Dr. William P. Wilson, a certified psychiatrist, is director of the Institute of Christian Growth in Burlington, North Carolina.

Archive: Recovering the Power of Pentecost

by Steve | May 2, 1986 | Archive - 1986

Archive: Recovering the Power of Pentecost

by Samuel Moffett

What might happen if the Holy Spirit were given full reign in the Church?

The United Methodist Church isn’t the only denomination in need of spiritual renewal. Over the last decade, the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. has lost approximately 25% of its total membership. Spiritual vitality has been low. Last year several evangelically-oriented renewal groups within the church held a National Congress on Renewal, attended by 7,000 Presbyterians. A tremendously exciting and hopeful address was given at the meeting by Rev. Samuel Moffett, a former missionary to China and Korea. His remarks have great relevance to United Methodists.

The greatest of all the great promises of God is found in the first chapter of Acts: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall by My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth ” (Acts 1:8, italics mine).

Strictly speaking, no single promise of God is any greater than His other promises. But to me this is the greatest, because it is what I need most. You see, I’m a Presbyterian. I have order and decency up to here. But where’s the power?

This promise is also the greatest of the five forms in which the Great Commission comes to us. Oh, I know that, strictly speaking, no one form of God’s commissioning is greater than any other. But to me this is the greatest, because it is the one I need most. You see, I’m a Presbyterian. I have sentimental, upper-middle-class virtues up to here. But where’s the power?

Where’s the power to propel us out of our comfortable, encapsulated churches and across the world? Our members are leaving; our missions declining. Where’s the power? If the power is what God promises, isn’t that what we need most today? So, let’s begin with the promise.

“You shall receive power … ” I’m not so sure that Jesus’ disciples really believed that promise. They were too much like us. They were about as unrenewed, powerless, unfocused, and puzzled a group as are most of us American Christians. And like us Presbyterians, those disciples were losing members.

A few days before, they had been 12. Now there were only 11 in the inner circle. That’s a worse percentage than even we Presbyterians can boast. About 40,000 members a year, isn’t it, that we’re losing? One out of every 80 or so. The disciples lost 1 out of 12!

So, disturbed and anxious, they turned to Jesus. But the first question they asked Him was the wrong question. All they wanted to know was, When does the revolution begin? When will you bring in the Kingdom? (i.e., Acts 1:6). They were still thinking in political terms, which is all right in its place, but this was neither the place nor the time for that question and Jesus turned them away.

“It is not for you to know,” He said (Acts 1:7.) But because He loved them, He gave them a promise, a promise centered in a different kind of kingdom. “You shall receive power … when the Holy Spirit has come, and you will be my witnesses … to the remotest part of the earth. ” Then He left them.

He left them with many questions unanswered. He left them still unrenewed, still puzzled, still powerless. Yet, isn’t that how renewal always begins—not with power for the ambitious and powerful but with a promise of power for those who have never had power, or have lost it?

Whether or not, at that moment when Jesus was about to leave them, the disappointed little group of disciples believed His promise, they did the right thing. They trudged back down the hill into the city and “with one accord devoted themselves to prayer ” (Acts 1:14, RSV).

Gave themselves to prayer? Weren’t there more important things to engage the attention of serious men and women? There were rumors of a conspiracy against the life of the emperor Tiberias in Rome—a good time for a revolution—and of a threatened famine spreading in North Africa. There also was news that the German barbarians were raiding again across the Rhine.

Most people still think those are the kinds of issues that matter, and they do matter. But all the disciples did was go home and pray!

Prayer, says our secular world, is merely the Christian’s escape from reality. It’s a cop-out.

That is what my wife was told at a Presbyterian meeting not long after we came back from Korea to America. She was speaking about the vitality and enthusiasm of the Korean Christians in prayer, singing, and personal witness. One woman asked her, “What did you do for the people imprisoned by the government over there? ”

It was a good question. It needed to be asked, and it was not asked unkindly. Eileen paused and answered, “Well, there wasn’t too much we could do. We thought many had been imprisoned unjustly, and we visited them when we could. And we prayed for them regularly. ” That was when someone whispered audibly, “Cop-out!”

At times I, too, have been more tempted to revolution than to prayer. And apparently it was revolution the disciples were thinking about when they asked Jesus, “Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel? ” Yet, as they gathered in the upper room, remembering how Jesus had answered them, instead of waging revolution they prayed.

When I was arrested in China during the revolution there, I wondered what was going to happen to me. During that time, the knowledge that Christians were praying for me encouraged and sustained me far more than any hope I might have had that another revolution, a counter-revolution, would come and make everything all right.

Here is the paradox. Revolutions make the headlines. Prayer doesn’t. But the world has forgotten about the plot against Tiberias that set tongues wagging in Jerusalem while the disciples prayed. The world has forgotten the border raids across the Rhine. But the world has never forgotten that credulous, leaderless, outcast little band which trudged down the hill into Jerusalem—and took time to pray.

There was a time in Korea, about 80 years ago, when missionaries and Korean Christians were so discouraged about the prospects for the future of the church there that they began to wonder if their 20 years of pioneering ministry had been all in vain. The country was losing its independence to the Japanese. The missionaries were tired. The Korean Christians, like the Ephesian church described in Revelation, seemed to have lost the love they had at first.

Then it was that a Canadian medical doctor called them not to give up, but to pray. The little prayer meetings and Bible studies he started were the beginnings of the great Korean revival of 1904-1908. What happened?

What happened was power. This leads to my second point. God keeps His promises.

God promised power to the powerless disciples on the hill outside Jerusalem. They went back into the city and prayed, and the power came. Suddenly, at Pentecost, “there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing wind … and fire … ” (Acts 2:2,3).

The Spirit came, and life flamed again within them, as in coals dropped from a fireplace, apparently dead but breaking open in a shower of sparks. The Spirit brought flame back into the blue, bleak hearts of the disciples.

I must confess that the record of that first Pentecost—all wind and fire and many tongues—is a disconcerting passage to read today in a group of Presbyterians like this. This account smacks too much of hot gospellers and holy rollers and quakers and shakers and enthusiasts. It doesn’t describe all that is best and most beautiful in Christian worship, does it?

Yet, the more I read of the history of the Church, the more I am impressed with the following fact: Some of the most creative and effective periods in the Church have been precisely those periods when the Gospel was “hot,” not when it was most respectable.

If I were to pick my favorite spot in medieval Romanism I would choose the days of that gentle madman, St. Francis of Assisi. Some of the greatest moments of Protestantism were in the times of Puritan enthusiasts and “great awakeners ” like Jonathan Edwards. Too hot for Yale! (I’m glad Presbyterian Princeton took him in.)

Quakers really quaked once, in the days of their intense beginnings. And when Methodism burned its way into the history of England and America, strong men and women roared and shook under the power of preachers like Wesley and Whitefield and Peter Cartwright.

Long-haired dandies would come to Cartwright’s camp meetings. ”They came to scoff,” he wrote, “but they stayed to pray.” Suddenly seized by the power, their backs would bend almost to the breaking. Then, the tension suddenly released by the peace of the Spirit, they would straighten up with such force that their long hair cracked like whips.

Strange, bizarre, and to me, a little frightening. Yet, as someone has said, “The Church of Christ has had more power when the world thought it was drunk, as at Pentecost, than when the world thought it was dead. ” Before we condemn the outer extravagances of those events it might be well to ask two questions. First, is all that excitement necessary for renewal? And second, when it does occur, what is the inward, quickening power that produces it?

The answer to the first question is no. Not all revivals are fiery, and renewal can be as quiet as an inner thought. Almost always, revival and renewal begin with prayer, and the best prayers are usually quiet.

The revival of 1857 in New York, for example, was just a prayer meeting. No fire. No shouting.

A city missionary in lower Manhattan passed out handbills inviting anyone interested to join him on Wednesdays for a prayer meeting. The first day, six people came. Within six months, 10,000 New York businessmen were gathering every day for prayer. Within two years a million converts had joined American churches. Just a prayer meeting, but what a prayer meeting!

The Great Revival in Korea was another matter. There was nothing low-key about that. It began with quiet prayer meetings, yes. But it exploded into waves of wailing, weeping, and writhing in agonies of confession.

The American missionaries were terrified. They stopped the meeting. They were “frightened by the presence of a Power which could work … wonders,” as one of my father’s colleagues described it (Blair, Gold in Korea, p. 64). But the meetings could not be stopped. They went on and on, and gradually even the most traditional-minded missionaries recognized that, however disturbing its manifestations might appear, the power was not to be feared, and could not be resisted. It came from God.

However, the fire was not the power. The fire was only an outward sign of the power. Shouting and weeping are not the power. There is no one way to describe the power. Sometimes it shakes and shouts. Sometimes the quiet words describe it best, words like cleansing, joy and love. These three ingredients were present in the power that came at Pentecost.

The power was not the wind and the fire. The power was the Spirit who, with the Father and the Son, is the One God who creates, sustains, and energizes all that ever was or is or will be. The Spirit is the promised Power. But an important practical question remains: What is the power for?

The power is for witness.

What happened when the power came that first day of Pentecost? Peter went out to preach. Pentecost was more than an experience of renewal. It was more than a season of rejoicing. It was a call to mission.

Tradition tells us that every one of the 11 disciples at Pentecost became a missionary. James went to the Arabs, Andrew to the Goths, Peter to the Romans, and so on. Even doubting Thomas, according to the tradition, went to far-off India.

Has not the Lord said, “You shall receive power … and you shall be my witnesses … to the remotest part of the earth”? Power is for witness, and witness is for the whole world.

What happened when the power came in Korea back in 1907?

It was during that revival that the first Korean presbytery was formed. At that first presbytery meeting, the first seven graduates of the little theological seminary, which had been founded a few years earlier, were ordained.

They were awed and a little daunted by thoughts of what this would mean in terms of the spiritual responsibilities their ordination would bring to each of them. Then another thought occurred to them. Just as they were about to come into the meeting one of them said, “We will be the first Korean ministers of the Korean church. But a real church has more than ministers. It has missionaries.”

They looked hard at a burly young man who had come a little late into their class at the seminary. “You stoned the first missionary you ever saw, didn’t you? ” they said. And he hung his head. It was true. “Then you are going to be our first missionary,” they said, and walked in to be ordained.

The moderator of the presbytery, my father, who happened to be the missionary that man had stoned 16 years earlier, ordained the man who had stoned him. And the church sent him off as its own first missionary, to a strange island off the southern coast where he in turn was stoned when he stood up to preach the Gospel. Power is for witness.

But where is the power? I love the Church and I believe in it. I love our own Presbyterian segment of the Body of Christ most of all. But where is the power?

At Pentecost, the power in a little group of about 120 men and women swept 3,000 people into the fellowship in one day. In the American church, according to statistics I saw some years ago, it takes 54 Christians working a whole year to bring just one new member into the church.

Among Presbyterians we lose more than we win. Has the power gone?

Since coming back from Korea I have found more life in this old church than some give it credit for, but I must admit our statistical record is utterly appalling. Now, I do not worship statistics of church growth. Nevertheless, compare the Presbyterian record in America with Korea.

In 1974 there were one-and-a-half million Presbyterians in Korea. Ten years later, in 1984, there were between four and five million. Doesn’t this say something about the distribution of spiritual power in the two churches, here and there? While Korean Presbyterians were tripling their membership, we American Presbyterians were losing about a third of ours, and cutting back on the number of our overseas missionaries.

Has the power gone? Forty years ago I was so discouraged about the Presbyterian church that I wrote to my father, “I don’t think I’ll go to Princeton. I’m not sure I want to be a Presbyterian.”

My wise father wrote back: “Sam, you’ll find a lot of good Christians outside the Presbyterian church and a lot of good missionaries. But before you make your decision, why don’t you look around and see if you can’t find some places where the Holy Spirit is working through the Presbyterians. And if the Holy Spirit can work through the Presbyterian church, perhaps you can.”

There is still power in our church. There is power because our Lord has promised power and the Spirit still works in the church. There comes a time to stop criticizing the church and try praying for it. Not for numbers, for more Presbyterians, but for the power Jesus promised—power for witness, power for mission.

When the power comes, don’t keep it for Presbyterians. Take it out across the world in mission. Two thirds of this world does not have enough to eat today. It goes to bed hungry every night. Mission is feeding. Most of the world suffers and lies in pain. Mission is healing. More than half of the adult world is blind; it doesn’t know how to read. Mission is opening the eyes and teaching to read. Most of the world is oppressed by unjust powers. Mission is liberation.

So go forth and heal and feed and liberate. We can and must join in the struggle against all the world’s ills—hunger, sickness, suffering, slavery—but that will not complete the mission. The greatest need will still be unmet.

When the power comes, we must also go forth and preach the good news. Two-thirds of the world is still without an effectual knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The power is already here! The trouble is with us. We do not call for the power, so we don’t get it. Then we complain that we don’t have it.

We are more naive even than the Arab chieftains which Lawrence of Arabia brought with him to the Paris Peace Conference. These men of the desert were amazed at many things, but nothing astonished them half so much as the running water in their hotel rooms. They knew the scarcity of water and its value. Yet, there it was to be had by the turning of a tap, free and seemingly exhaustless.

When they prepared to leave Paris, Lawrence found them trying to detach the faucets so that out in their dry deserts they might always have water. He tried to explain that behind the flowing taps were huge reservoirs, and that without this supply the faucets were useless. But the Arabs insisted. They were sure that the magic instruments would give them water forever.

Are we not even more credulous in our Christian lives? Those chieftans expected water from unattached faucets. We look for water to run from a closed tap. In the Holy Spirit are deep reservoirs of power, wells of water springing up into everlasting life. But the Holy Spirit cannot flow through a closed tap. He cannot work though an unyielded life.

So open up the taps. But watch out. The promise is for any who will believe and receive. And when by faith and grace we turn the taps and the power flows, watch out! The Spirit works when, where, and how He pleases.

When the power comes, it is not you but the Spirit who controls the temperature. You may pray for the fire, and the Spirit may choose to send a cool, refreshing rain and a still, small voice. Or you may think you will be more comfortable with the still, small voice, and, as in Korea, there may come the fire and the earthquake.

But don’t ask me again, “Where’s the power?” It is already here.

It is the same Spirit, the same promise, and the same power that has always been here. For Jesus is still saying to his disciples: “You shall receive power when the Spirit comes … and you shall be my witnesses.” Witnesses to the ends of this dry and thirsty, this sick and hungry, this oppressed, frightened, lost world. You shall be witnesses that the Savior has come and will come again—and that the Spirit is already here.