Are Pentecostals offering Strange Fire? (Panel Discussion)

Rob Wilkerson responds to the article, “The Elephant in the Strange Fire” by Cameron Buettel, published on November 3, 2014 on John MacArthur’s Grace to You ministry website.

Frankly, I’m a nobody in the kingdom. I’ve never published any books, though I’d certainly like to one day. I’ve never led a church larger than a few hundred people. And I’ve never had any sphere of influence larger than the people directly under my leadership before. So when the folks at PneumaReview.com asked me to respond to an article published this past Monday, by Grace to You employee, Cameron Buettel, I felt like a mouse beneath Cameron’s elephant.

I’ve never seen an elephant respond to a mouse. But it could be either messy or humorous. Hopefully in my case Cameron’s elephant will simply be still, be informed, and be educated just a little when it comes to a biblical charismatic theology. When Cameron penned a follow-up challenge to charismatics who stood in line of John MacArthur’s Strange Fire conference, held a little over a year ago, he confessed two things to his readers. First, he has a charismatic background and grew up in mainline Pentecostalism. Second, he consumed an unhealthy amount of videos and writings from influential charismatic leaders.

Cameron Buettel, from his blog.

To the second acknowledgement I’d simply agree with Cameron. Yeah, it’s unhealthy to watch really too much of anything on TBN or YouTube, assuming I am able to reasonably deduce who it was that he watched and read. And I may be totally off on that. Who knows? But here’s what I feel like I do know with some measure of confidence. The guys who seem to make enough money to spend it on television broadcasting in order to turn around and ask for more money make me angry, frustrated, and irritated that people who probably want to follow Jesus are being duped into following a charlatan.

But here’s the stickler. Just because they can afford to put their wares on the air doesn’t mean they are the poster children for the charismatic movement. It just means they are the poster children for the charismaniac movement. There’s a big difference. Biblical charismatics know that. And refusal on the part of cessationists to admit that there is a difference continues to be part of the dishonesty that creates a divide between us. I am charismatic. But I am not charismaniac.

To the first acknowledgment I’d respond that everyone will find little to much that is or was wrong with the denomination they grew up in. I grew up Southern Baptist. There is much to be praised there, like the fight for inerrancy. But there is much that is wrong there, from my personal viewpoint. And here’s the rub I felt in Cameron’s article. He writes from what seems to be a reactionary perspective rather than a responsive one. The answer to the bad charismatic and pentecostal theology he personally experienced is not zero charismatic and pentecostal theology. Ditching the whole thing, Cameron asserts a bullet-pointed list of what he perceives to be a standard, predictable, step-by-step, “codified playbook of sorts” for “self-defense.”

 Introduction

“Nondiscipleship is the elephant in the church.” So Dallas Willard¹ pictures the obviousness and enormity of the problem. Richard Foster agrees, “Perhaps the greatest malady in the Church today is converts to Christ who are not disciples of Christ—a clear contradiction in terms. This malady affects everything in church life….”² Brian McLaren asks, “Why aren’t we making better disciples?…Why aren’t people becoming more holy, joyful, peaceful, content, and Christ-like?…Why are so few of our good Christian people good Christians?”³

Are these observations overly bleak? Thom Ranier’s survey⁴ of members from many churches asked, “What is your evaluation of the overall effectiveness of the church’s discipleship program?” Only 4.6% rated their church’s program either “very effective” or “effective”. Another survey⁵ found that nearly one-fourth of Christians felt that they were sliding backward in their spiritual growth, while 40% felt stagnated. In addition, it found no correlation between the length of time believers had been Christians and their spiritual maturity. After extensive research into the state of discipleship in America, George Barna concluded that though the vast majority of churches have a discipleship program, consistent spiritual growth is rare, and mourned the fact that in their attitudes and actions Christians appear little different from nonbelievers.⁶

Nudges do not budge pachyderms.
By RegBarc, via Wikimedia Commons.

That Jesus commanded the Church to make disciples is unquestioned (Matt 28.19-20). Once people become believers, they are enabled by God’s Spirit to undergo the process of transformation into the likeness of Jesus (II Cor 3.18), becoming mature (Eph 4.13), complete (James 1.4), and fruitful (John 15.2, 8). As they cooperate with God, this is a present and continuing process; Paul declares, “We are his workmanship ….” (Eph 2.10). The Bible clearly states discipleship’s command, enablement, and goals. Then what has gone wrong? How has the elephant of nondiscipleship made its home in the Church? Will tweaking existing programs produce mature and zealous Christians? Unfortunately, nudges do not budge pachyderms. The effort must match the size of the problem. Failure to appreciate the magnitude of the problem will only result in inadequate remedies. Without comprehensive change in their approach to ministry, churches can expect minimal results.⁷ The first part of this paper identifies six hindrances to discipleship which the Church must seriously engage. The second part proposes nine strategies needed to move the malignant mammal from our midst. Because the goal is to provide an overview for analysis and dialogue, thorough treatment of each point must await a longer work.

Hindrances

Six areas of hindrances to discipleship exist—two each in the Church, in the culture, and within individuals. Specific hindrances will be mentioned in each area.

Inadequate Goals

In many ways churches in this country have settled for goals far short of the discipling component of the great commission. It needs to determine more appropriate objectives for ministry. Below are listed a number of these inadequate goals contrasted with the correct paradigm for ministry. The adoption of one or more of these goals can hobble the attainment of ongoing spiritual growth.

Growing Attendance vs. Life Change

Churches and pastors tend to equate growth in attendance with success. As long as it increases, ministry appears to be effective. Eighty percent of church growth, however, is simply transfer growth. Bill Hull suggests, “The wrong question for the church is, How many people are present? The right question is, What are these people like?”⁸ The goal of discipleship is not numerical change, but life change.