Why Charismissional?

by Emerging Grace

The word charismissional is defined as Spirit-led missional living. Allow me to explain why I joined the words charismatic and missional.

A Call For Charisma In The Missional Church

We cannot truly be missional without allowing our missional activity to be directed by the Holy Spirit. Our identity as the people of God is dependent on our understanding of the purpose of the Holy Spirit in our life. Our empowerment for participation in the missio Dei is the Holy Spirit. His role in our life is to make known to us the heart of the Father. How can we live a life of mission without knowing what the Father is doing? We were given the Holy Spirit for this reason - to show us the things we need to know in order to be in step with the Father's heart.

We are to demonstrate, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the present reality of the kingdom of God. In order to do this, we must develop a relationship of ongoing dependence on His guidance and insight into the kingdom realm.
We serve a supernatural God, and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit is His supernatural ability made available to us. Spiritual gifts are the supernatural help of the Spirit of God given for the accomplishment of his missional purposes.

I hope that those who are not from a charismatic background would open their heart and mind to the supernatural, divine enablement available to all of us. When we embrace and understand the necessity of the Spirit's role, our mission can be connected to the living power of God. It does not have to look like charismatic hype. It can look like whatever supernatural intervention or grace that we need in the moment.

Let us not attempt to live missionally without a dependent reliance on the participation of the Holy Spirit. This is the missional element that will cause our works of service to be empowered with the life of the Spirit of God.

A Missional Call to the Charismatic Church

On the other hand, we should no longer be charismatic without understanding the missional heart of the Father.
Why aren't charismatics missional? If the function of the Holy Spirit is to reveal the heart of the Father, and the heart of the Father is the reconciliation and restoration of all things, why have we, who claim knowledge and intimacy with the Spirit, missed the missional leading of the Holy Spirit?

I am sorry to say that the charismatic church has not represented the function of spiritual gifts very well. While we pursue the supernatural aspect of our inheritance, eagerly desiring the gifts of the Spirit, for the most part, our expression of the gifts has been self-serving.

As a friend, I would like to issue this missional call to the charismatic church. Let us open our eyes and hearts to what God is doing. I have written this letter explaining the need to reconsider the way we practice our faith.

Dear friends,

Something I have learned outside of the charismatic church is the idea of living missionally. Although this is considered a trendy word in some circles, it is unfamiliar to many people in churches like ours.

We understand the concepts of mission and evangelism. However, missional living is different in that it is unrelated to church programs. It is a lifestyle of involving ourselves in God's mission to the world. Before we too quickly assume or mentally ascend to believing we are already doing this, let me explain further.

Missional living shifts our spirituality to active involvement and participation in God's work of bringing reconciliation and restoration. The love and purpose of God is our motivation, His desire for shalom. We become agents of His grace, His love, and the power of His life. Every situation is an opportunity to bring redemption, healing, and wholeness.

We take what we have and use it for the purpose of the kingdom. This is so simple, and yet it is profound. Rather than having a churchy appearance, it may seem rather insignificant and unimportant. As we grow in understanding the Father's heart, we learn to step into these ordinary moments of ministry as they happen in our life outside of church.

Although the charismatic church has prided itself in revelation and knowledge of the ways of the Spirit, missional living has not been our practice. To know the Spirit is to understand the missional heart of the Father, but we have not lived as people who have this revelation.

Traditional charismatic expression has little connection or relevance to the outside world. Our use of charismatic gifts has not compelled us to go to those to whom we are called. The deeper we went in our quest for the things of the Spirit, the further removed we became from knowing and relating to those who do not yet know Jesus.

We have been especially guilty of dualism, of creating a divide between the sacred and the secular. We focus our attention on creating an atmosphere set apart for God's presence. Our practice of spiritual gifts is dependent on their use within the church.

We are caught up in charismatic traditions and expressions of worship, unaware that we have become an insiders-only, private club. We have our own language and experiences that seem strange to the uninitiated. The things we busy ourselves with are of little importance outside our realm.

As we exercise spiritual gifts among one another, we are like body builders at the gym, flexing our spiritual muscles. The world is not familiar with Who's Who Among Charismatics. They do not care about the latest, greatest apostle or prophet speaking at the WeAreChangingTheEarth Conference. The world does not know us or care about the status we assume in Christian circles.

Do we know how to be charismatic outside the church walls? Most of our experience is in ministering to one another. In order to move forward, the first thing that will be needed is a season of charismatic detox.

We must step back from our charismatic traditions and be willing to reconsider our motivations and our practice of ministry. We have to rethink the things that we have used to define our spirituality.

We may have to admit that the expression of spiritual gifts within charismatic, prophetic, and intercessory circles fed our sense of importance and need for recognition. We have at times been guilty of using the anointing for our own personal glory.

No longer can we define apostolic understanding as a way of structuring authority and networks while we continue to ignore those to whom we have been sent. How can we presume to be apostolic without leaving the realm of church?

No longer can we pursue prophetic ministry simply for our own gratification, elevating prophetic ministers to celebrity status. Rather than tickling one another's ears, we could use our prophetic insight to speak forth the redemptive purposes of God.

We could use our prophetic voice to call forth the vision and promise of God in the lives of unbelievers. We can do this without churchy language or a ministry setting. We can learn to minister God's words and life in a way that is organic to the situation in which we find ourselves.

We cannot stay bunkered in our walls praying for revival. How can we accept that mentality when Jesus' example and command is to go? We have not been given a blueprint for spiritually mapping revival. Our blueprint is to be among those who need to hear the gospel of the kingdom, befriending them and intertwining our lives with theirs. To continue to pray for revival without immersing our lives among the lost is ridiculous.

Do we dare to take the power of the Spirit outside of our comfort zone? Have we not noticed that we are only surrounded by salt? We are stuck in the shaker. Our light is hidden in the bushel basket of the church walls.

Maybe God will upset the shaker and scatter the salt for its intended purpose. Maybe He will remove the security blanket of familiar charismatic life that we love, allowing us to see the mission He is calling us to. Maybe He will open our ears to hear other voices calling the church to be the church out in the world rather than cloistered behind church walls.

There are other believers already questioning the way church is done. In order for us to participate in what God is doing, we must also reconsider the way that we do church. We would be wise to learn from those who are leading the way in becoming a missional expression of church.

This is why the charismatic church must change. We say we have a heart for the lost, yet there is nothing in our way of doing church that intersects with them. There is a place for exercising spiritual gifts for the purpose of edifying and encouraging one another. However, we cannot stay in our comfort zone, disconnected from the missional purposes of God.

We must redefine what it means to be a spirit-led follower of Christ. We can no longer look for affirmation or validation of our spirituality in the church system, but instead must learn to rely on the Spirit for our ongoing instruction and mission. When we understand our missional identity, we can be a part of advancing His reign and participating in His kingdom life on this earth.

I pray that we will humbly move forward in participating in God's mission, co-laboring with others of like purpose.

Sincerely,
grace

Our inheritance is to know the mind and heart of the Father, and the Holy Spirit is the downpayment of that inheritance. He is our constant companion and teacher in walking according to the purposes of the Father.

In the story of the prodigal son, the son who stayed and the son who left both misunderstood the Father's heart and intentions, especially concerning the inheritance. There are things we can learn from one another as we learn to move forward, by the power of the Holy Spirit, into the missional task set before us.

We were not created to just be church-goers. The people of God are to co-labor with God, incarnating His life, hope, love, and redemption in all that we are and do. It is only by walking with the Spirit that we are enabled to live according to our true identity and purpose.