The Three Critical Streams
By Robert J. Sanders
Special to VirtueOnline
www.virtueonline.org
3/17/2006
I am a member of the Anglican Mission in America. As stated in its founding documents, the AMiA is "diversified in the expression of the Faith -- evangelical, catholic, and charismatic -- as three streams flowing as one river in Jesus Christ." In this essay I will briefly describe the strengths and weaknesses of each of these three aspects of Christian faith. Further, I would claim that all must be present in each individual congregation if we are to have a robust Anglicanism in North America.
The great strength of Evangelicalism is its proclamation of the gospel as revealed in Scripture. That is first. The apostles were not sent forth to preach the catholic tradition, nor did they preach the Holy Spirit before Christ. They preached Jesus Christ as Lord, risen from the dead, the only way to the Father. The Spirit empowered them to do this and their preaching formed the church. Although the charismatic gifts of the Spirit and the great catholic tradition followed and enabled the preaching of the gospel, they were not the primary content of the gospel proclamation. For this reason, the evangelical commitment to Scripture and the gospel is essential and primary.
The charismatic tradition recognizes that the preaching of the gospel must be accompanied by the supernatural work of the Spirit. Scripture is very clear on this. To glorify Christ, the Spirit illumines Scripture, empowers worship, heals the sick, sanctifies the unholy, directs and guides believers, and delivers God's people from the power of evil spirits. All of this is characteristic of charismatic churches.
The great catholic tradition preserves and applies the faith originally given in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. It does so through the Creeds, the great liturgies which set forth the glory of God, the lives of the saints who instruct in holiness, the right teaching of the theological tradition, the establishment of right order in the orders of ministry and canon law, and the Christian social tradition that developed as the Church Christianized the ancient western world. All this is important if the faith is to be preserved against false teaching, cultural accommodation, internal disorder, and social and economic irrelevance.
What happens if one of the three streams is exaggerated and the others ignored? Let me begin with Evangelicalism. Without a living experience of the Spirit, evangelicals tend to preach right doctrine rather than a living Christ. Ignoring the supernatural, they do not heal the broken hearted, the physically sick, and the spiritually oppressed. Further, knowing only the biblical Word and not the Sacrament, evangelicals neglect the glory of God found in the Eucharist. Lacking an awareness of the spiritual writings of the saints, they really do not know how to guide people into a deeper holiness. Politically, they focus on a narrow set of issues, important to be sure, such things as abortion, prayer in school, marriage and the family. They ignore the great catholic tradition of a just war and they rarely investigate the teaching of Scripture and the church universal on the vital subject of economics. As a result, evangelicalism has been weakened in its power to present the full gospel of Jesus Christ.
At their worst, charismatics end up with the same heresy as the liberals, the belief in private revelations that go beyond the teaching of Scripture. They would benefit from a catholic understanding of the Creeds which relates the Spirit to the Word. They also tend to go from experience to experience, or from church to church, looking to "be fed." Unaware of the catholic spiritual tradition, they do not know that God does not always grant intense experiences, and further, God sometimes secretly feeds the faithful soul even when it doesn't feel "fed." Many of them do not know the stability that can come from the regular attendance at Eucharist, nor do they practice the disciplines of the church year. This leaves them at the mercy of their own inclinations or the latest spiritual fad. Like many evangelicals they focus on a narrow range of social issues and lack the theological tools by which to take a critical stance toward the culture. As a result, they exhaust themselves with spiritual excess or burn out when God does not meet their expectations.
Anglo-Catholics understand the glory of the Eucharist and the great tradition. At times, however, they fuss over the minutiae of ritual while neglecting the power of the gospel to save. Even worse, when liturgy descends into preciousness, the glory of God is obscured by blind adherence to external form. When combined with liberal theology, Anglo-catholic piety can give the appearance of holiness even as they advance a revisionist agenda. They know the Creeds, the lives of the saints, the riches of the tradition, yet they do not obey this tradition by standing for orthodoxy and taking the gospel to the streets. Like the charismatics and evangelicals, they do carry out acts of mercy, but again, like them, issues of justice often take back seat.
Every congregation needs to include all three streams. This claim is the central affirmation of this essay. Why do I say this? In general, many people come to faith, or have their childhood faith re awakened, by an evangelical or charismatic encounter with God. They grow in that faith through obedience, worship, fellowship, study, prayer, and service. Without healing and deliverance, however, this process can be blocked or degenerate into external form without internal substance. If they persist in their walk with Christ, they would be blessed to encounter the great catholic tradition by entering the stability of the church year, the Eucharist, and the catholic understanding of the spiritual life and discipline. Any church that does not offer all three streams will not attract members in the first place, or if attracted, will not keep them or enable them to grow in grace.
What we need is leadership committed to the evangelical, charismatic, and catholic substance of the faith. Too many Christian leaders do not venture forth to examine, study, and experience what their fellow Christians proclaim as living realities. Evangelicals avoid charismatic meetings and the laying on of hands for deliverance. Charismatics do not study the writings of the Church fathers, nor do they see how their experience is connected to Eucharist and the Creeds. Anglo Catholics do not let themselves be challenged by the evangelical emphasis on saving souls and many are not serious about healing or deliverance. As a result, many congregations are half-starved. Once Christian leaders boldly receive the fullness of God's saving grace, they will be a position to lead their flocks into the fullness of God's love. It is a challenge and we need to meet it.
--The Rev. Robert J. Sanders, Ph.D. is rector of Christ the King Anglican Fellowship in Jacksonville, Florida. He is VirtueOnline's resident online theologian