Frankly Answered Questions - FAQs

Are you believers in the gifts of the Spirit? i.e. Laying on of hands for healing, prophecy, being "slain" in the spirit, speaking in tongues as described in the book of Acts?

Q: We are currently looking for a church home and I have a few questions, if you wouldn't mind answering them. As I was reading your church beliefs and ministry calling, a few questions arose in my mind...

Are you believers in the gifts of the Spirit? i.e. Laying on of hands for healing, prophecying, being "slain' in the spirit, speaking in tongues as described in the book of Acts?

Is your praise and worship Spirit-led? i.e. Are you limited by the time restrictions or do you let the Holy Spirit have His way?

Do you dance in the Spirit?

Is there prophets, teachers, evangelists, missionaries and pastors (five-fold ministry), active in your church?

A: Thank you for writing. Please understand that as I reply to your questions, I am writing as someone who was previously very much a part of the charismatic/Pentecostal movement. I was raised as a new Christian on Derek Prince and Bob Mumford. I participated on stage in Kathryn Kuhlman (a famous faith healer) meetings. I am not writing as someone who has not "experienced" the gifts of the Spirit or as someone who is uninformed or never seen them practiced.

We do believe that the Spirit is active today and we are open to any gifts that He wishes to use among us and that we can find practiced in the Bible. Gifts operate at New Life according to Biblical commandments, so we have people who practice the gift of tongues, but we do not allow everyone to speak in tongues at the same time (1 Corinthians 14:23,27,28). We cannot find the practice of being "slain" in the spirit in the Bible (that is, in the manner in which it is practiced in Pentecostal circles), so we do not encourage this in our congregation. The elders (and others) do pray for people for healing and we lay our hands on the individual and anoint the person with oil. For more on this see Spiritual Gifts.

Our praise and worship is led by the Spirit, but usually He directs us through prayer ahead of time prior to the service. So the worship leader and I have a good sense of the time that He wants us to spend in worship. On some occasions we realize during the service that God wants to do something spontaneous and we "go with that." We have discovered that a totally open service without any time limits every Sunday means that the service is dominated and led by immature individuals, rather than by the Spirit.

Many of the members of our church are expressive in their style of worship. We have some people that stand, others sit, some kneel. We have those that raise their hands and those that fold their hands. We allow any expression of worship that is Biblical, but we also don't judge others because they are not doing what we are doing.

We have had Jewish praise dancing upon occasion in the service. I have participated in this many times and have felt a great upwelling of joy from God's Spirit. But it surprises me what some Pentecostal churches call "dancing in the Spirit." I think that it is an insult to attribute such lousy dancing to the Holy Spirit. Dance which comes from the Holy Spirit, who created our bodies, should have grace, flow, beauty, and joy to it. It should be more than just jerky body movements.

My study of Ephesians 4:11 would indicate four groups that God has given to equip people for ministry. [The use of the word "some" in the verse shows that pastors and teachers are to be viewed as one group, not two. Hence, pastor-teachers, meaning pastors who are also teachers.] These four groups are not the ministers, so much as they are the equippers "to prepare God's people for works of ministry" (v. 12). We certainly support missionaries and evangelists. I am a pastor-teacher, along with 5 other men in our church. We are open to prophets among us, but we test each prophecy that is given, just as the Bible commands us (1 Thessalonians 5:19-22). I must confess that most of the prophets that I have had contact with or keep track of through other contacts have a very poor track record in speaking for God.

From your questions, I would assume that you are looking for a Pentecostal church. We are neither Pentecostal, nor non-charismatic. We just attempt to follow the Scripture in our church. As you can tell from my answers to your questions, I have rejected some of the Pentecostal traditions. I believe that some of what is practiced in these circles is well-meaning, but man-made tradition, rather than Biblically informed, body building acts of God.

There are a number of Pentecostal churches in the Stafford area. I would recommend Grace Church of Fredericksburg as a fellowship that has more of the experiences that you are seeking. I have a great deal of respect for their church leadership and I know that they are seeking God and trying to follow His Word.

Grace and peace to you in Christ Jesus.