I am a believer that there is more than one way to worship God. There are quiet, reverential ways, and there are joyful, exuberant ways, and there are in between ways, and I believe God appreciates them all. It is the heart of worship that counts, not so much the ways that you do it.
I also beleive the Holy Spirit guides and empowers worship. But while I know there is a legitimate gift of speaking in tongues, I beleive the Bible tells us it is one of the Spirit's gifts, not the super gift that all must have for salvation or right service to God.
I believe the Spirit gives gifts to all of the members of the body for the edification of the Body of Christ, His church. I believe the Spirit works through all Bible-beleiving, Christ affirming denominations. We are like colors of the rainbow -- we all have our place and purpose, and together, when we work in love, we can make a beautiful panorama of love for God.
The Christian Church is often viewed denominationally, with distinctions made along the lines of doctrine or church governance. Richard J. Foster dissects Christianity, not along denominational lines, but along the lines of spirituality in his wonderful book "Streams of Living Water." Foster, is a professor and writer who shows how the Spirit has moved among the church in different emphases over the nearly 2000 years since Pentecost.
The Holy Spirit's work in the church did not begin with the Azuza Street Revival of black pracher William Seymour in California in 1906, as some modern day Pentecostals seem to tell it. No, far to the contrary, the Spirit was working in the ministries of many others, like Augustine and Aquinas, like Luther and Calvin and Wesley. There is no written evidence of tongue speaking in their lives, but the Spirit was definitely alive in their ministries. The fruit proves it. The same is true of modern day ministers like Billy Graham and D. James Kennedy. The fruit of their ministries prove the power of the Spirit in their lives!
Foster believes "the three great branches of the Christian family"---Protestant, Eastern Orthodox, and Roman Catholic--- "are all valid expressions of Christ’s Church" (p. 301). He calls on all Christians to be dedicated to church renewal and "to learn from others who have gone before us" in aspirating to imitate Christ.
Foster sees six historic streams of spirituality, devoting a chapter to each.
The Contemplative Tradition is the prayer-filled life, yearning for "a richer, fuller practice of the presence of God."
The Holiness Tradition focuses "upon the inward re-formation of the heart and the development of ‘holy habits’" to the end of addressing "the erosion of moral fiber in contemporary society."
The Charismatic Tradition focuses "upon the empowering charisms or gifts of the Spirit and the nurturing fruit of the Spirit."
The Social Justice Tradition is a "compassionate way of living" that "focuses upon justice and shalom in all human relationship and social structures" and "addresses the gospel imperative for equality and magnanimity among all peoples".
The Evangelical Tradition, which is the priamry tradition of the Presbyterian Church, "focuses upon the proclamation of the evangel, the good news of the gospel" and addressing "the crying need for people to see the good news lived and hear the good news proclaimed."
The Incarnational Tradition "focuses upon making present and visible the realm of the invisible spirit," addressing the "crying need to experience God as truly manifest and notoriously active in daily life."
I believe that we see some of all these traditions in the Presbyterian Churches I serve, but the Evangelical Tradition, the Word-centered path, remains the predominant way that we reach out to the world for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Still, we must appreciate all the ways the Spirit has moved and is still moving and transforming us!
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