The Gift Man
I come from a Pentecostal/charismatic background. That means right from the foundation of my Christian walk the importance, and sometimes obsession, of gifts was right at the fore. To become a fully fledged Pentecostal I had to get baptised in the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues, that great unknown, untaught, supernaturally given language. This opened up a doorway to the other gifts such as prophecy, word of knowledge, gifts of healings etc. Thus the road to becoming a fully fledged charismatic. A word that seems to have got lost in translation a bit because although it seemed to be translated as ‘grace gifts’ it became less centred on the grace and more centred on the gift. More on what we were getting from God than on what we could give to others. Therefore it did not matter how we used the gifts as long as we had them. People would then become followers of gift men (and women). The greater the gift displayed the bigger the following. People in churches who showed a great openness to the things of the spirit were labelled, recognised, given positions and responsibilities. Mr so and so carries a great gift of prophecy, Mrs so and so is used greatly by God in healing. So good to have these prophets and healing evangelists amongst us. The weight of adding a ‘thus saith the Lord’ to anything was amazing. Charismaniacs were driven by God’s now word and anyone who questioned them were questioning God Himself. If God said it I’m doing it. I was caught up in this too because it was my church roots. I only ever saw the gifted and Holy Spirit empowered guys walking in the now blessing. Through life you can only walk in the revelation you have at a certain time, and much of that revelation is built by the past, by relationships, by the teaching of your upbringing. So for me to be seen for what I was carrying, the gift, recognised and encouraged to a life of that, just seemed the call of God, a vocation for life. To be seen as a good preacher or a prophet in the land was a fulfillment of the charismatic ladder. The problem here is that you get known as the gift man, and therefore synonymous with the gift, and never as the real you. How can you say you have nothing to say because the sky feels like brass when people are looking to the gift of prophecy in you? How can you just talk about the hurts that others have brought into your life when you are seen carrying that amazing gift of faith? The invincible one. The gift man for the hour. No wonder charismaniacs often have very few real friends, especially those from leadership positions. People who go through long periods of valley experience are normally dropped off the radar at some point. I am ashamed to say I leave behind me loads of people that I dropped somewhere because they stopped walking in faith or hit tough times. When gift is the key to everything and not relationship then when there is no room for the gift to be displayed there is nothing bonding anything. If obsession about walking in gift and being the gift man is what makes me a charismatic then I no longer think of myself in that way. Do I still believe in using the gifts? Yes. But I also believe in using love, patience and good old normal conversation about normal stuff. I love it that the people in work know me as just Paul. To them I am not a gift ministry but a person, a relational person. There is no performance mentality and yet they know what I live for.
Redeeming the Charis from the matic.
I see a new charismatic movement coming to the body of Christ. This wave has already hit us, the sad thing is it should never have gone away. We need to redeem the word charis from the word charismatic. It is the Greek term for the word grace. Charisma is favour freely given or gift of grace. I see a people who will be less concerned about what they have received from heaven in outward gift signs, and more concerned with sharing gift with others. A people known for their grace rather than their gifts. The gifts cease to be about who we are and more an expression of the grace flow of heaven. Healing will be about bringing wholeness to a broken life. Prophecy will be about helping others walk in destiny who are lost and alone. The gift of faith will be about believing in someone when they have lost all belief and fallen. The word of knowledge and wisdom will flow through everyday conversation without even an ounce of acknowledgement or super-spiritual voice over. The circle of grace will draw itself around somebody and embrace them rather than drawing a circle around a select few who have got it and viewing everyone else as outside the box. The grace circle does not speak in terms of insiders and outsiders, believers and pagans, it embraces people. Yes people with issues but haven’t we all got issues. I only have to look back at my life when I lived for recognition, position, gifts, titles etc. to realise I carry big issues that need to be challenged and ministered to continually. We are all built of something and we all need grace to grow into something. We all need it. In Christ we all receive it, as much as we have received we need to give.
Still Charismaniac?
So am I still a charismaniac? Some people may still think I’m a bit mad but that is my character rather than gifts I walk in. Do I still flow in the gifts? I believe all the time, but it has ceased to be about pulpit or public performance and more about daily expression of Who I carry. Used to be ministry stuff but is now about the flow of life. What I want to do more is walk in the Charis of God. The grace. Live grace, talk grace, show grace, love in grace. Whether at work or sharing at a gathering. And I want people to get to know me, the one sharing the grace, rather than me for the gifts I carry. And through the grace I want them to see the One who is Grace. Amazing Grace. I hate labels, I think they should only be for jars, but if I am known for nothing other than walking in grace then that would be enough.
We know that this whole ‘charismatic’ movement has been part of the imperial church spirit because of how it worked out. Beyond the authoritarian movements of shepherding/discipling etc, there was always this need to authoritatively define the gifts, how they were used, who used them. Just think of all the books written with their lists of gifts. Were there 5 or 15 or 22 gifts available to the right, faithful folks? I think the emphasis on grace is just right. Those who life in the Kingdom (or are trying to figure out what that might look like on a daily basis) are to be grace-givers first and foremost. We don’t need to be keeping approved lists of gifts and authoritative ways of using them. c.
I so agree Paul. This is something C S Lewis confronted in his essay on The Inner Ring. He challenged putting your ladder up against ANY wall (a la Thomas Merton) and said this:
“The quest of the Inner Ring will break your hearts unless you break it. But if you break it, a surprising result will follow. If, in your working hours you make the work your end, you will presently find yourself all unawares inside the only circle in your profession that really matters. You will be one of the sound craftsmen, and other sound craftsmen will know it. This group of craftsmen will by no means coincide with the Inner Ring or the Important People or the People in the Know. It will not shape that professional policy or work up that professional influence which fights for the profession as a whole against the public: nor will it lead to those periodic scandals and crises which the Inner Ring produces. But it will do those things which that profession exists to do and will in the long run be responsible for all the respect which that profession in fact enjoys and which the speeches and advertisements cannot maintain. And if in your spare time you consort simply with the people you like, you will again find that you have come unawares to a real inside: that you are indeed snug and safe at the center of something which, seen from without, would look exactly like an Inner Ring. But the difference is that its secrecy is accidental, and its exclusiveness a by-product, and no one was led thither by the lure of the esoteric: for it is only four or five people who like one another meeting to do things that they like. This is friendship. Aristotle placed it among the virtues. It causes perhaps half of all the happiness in the world, and no Inner Ring can ever have it.” (The Inner Ring by C S Lewis, taken from http://www.limbicnutrition.com/blog/the-inner-ring-by-cs-lewis/)
Others (i.e. Janet Hagberg & James Fowler in particular and Richard Rohr in general) have called this desire to belong (climb the ladder) “Stage 3 of the journey of faith”.
This type of behaviour is as true of ‘The Gift People’ you mention as of any group that others aspire to join. (In Lewis’ passage above, for profession, read gift.) Sadly, I confess I have been there and I take responsibility for my hurried journey up that ladder. I thought I was going somewhere but Father brought me around again to understand it led nowhere. No one else made me climb it. No one else told me to. I did it because I believed it was what I should do as a charismanic Christian. This is not anyone’s fault – but unless we think deeply, radically and imaginatively for ourselves, we can all do it.
Bless.
J x
However, Lewis’ script was largely what helped me see what was really going on and I had it on my wall for years…
Whoops…last line there was in an earlier version of my post! LOL.
Hi Paul
Maybe those who read your blogs might say it’s easy to write words about how we should walk, that we can easy talk the talk, but from a brother who has travelled the journey with you I just want to say that grace at work is what I see in you mate, you’re a joy to walk with and alongside in all that you stand for. For someone who has moved in these higher circles as you have as I have come to find out(not from you) you are willing to lay it all down in preferring others, even to the point of going to the far ends of the earth to encourage the few.You’re a joy to be with and I love you for being you, roll on Latvia.
Bless you mate.
That made me smile Geoff! Looking forward to your visit from the few on the utter ends of the earth – although Latvians do like to explain they are actually at the centre of continental Europe.
spot on spot on spot on.
i consider myself very privileged to have been part of the lincoln free church that stuart bell and his family started before he moved on to new life. they were very gentle methodists at heart PLUS pentecostal holy spirit gifts. we got a 5 or 6 “hymn sandwich” as well as a “chorus time” and “free prayer”. and “gifts”. and kindness, all generations together. no gimmicks. a really healthy mix. and so bible fresh – well, it says it, lets try it
having been in so many churches that over balance one way or another since, i’m left with the knowledge that it is possible, i can have my cake and eat it – if only they’ll let me.
thank you for being so honest about having let go of people along the way. i know i have too and i have been let go of in my turn. grace. grace. grace.