3 Streams

I have been reflecting this morning on the three streams that make up the church. They are the Sacramental, Charismatic and Evangelical streams. Now, in those categories I don't mean to imply the Christian groups that have taken those names, but I am appealing to the original meaning. I will hopefully clarify things as I go on.

What got me thinking about this was a discussion I had with a friend a couple days back. We were talking about wanting to expand IHOPE House of Prayer to also be a Missions Base. For us that meant a shift, or at least and addition, of focus. I have my thoughts formatted in a diagram, but I can't include that here, so I will do my best to explain.

Within the Church, there are (in my opinion) three main facets that each have a question, an answer, a desired behavior and that fit in one particular stream or another. I see the breakdown like this:

Congregation - "What can God do for me?" - Sacramental (Means of Grace)

HOP - "What can I do for God?" - Charismatic (Spirit empowered living, Fruit of Spirit)

MB - "What does God want to do through me?" - Evangelical (Gifts of Spirit)

At the congregational level, we often ask "What can God do for me?" We are interested in why we should be Christians. We are interested in God's promises and offers. I place the congregation or "church" (small "c") in the sacramental stream because the Sacraments most clearly answer this question. We know God's heart for us and what He promises us when we take communion. We remember that we are part of a new covenant, that He has removed our sins, that we have died with Him so that we might also live with Him.

At the House of Prayer level, our question is "What can I do for God?" or, a better way of phrasing it would be "How can I minister to God's heart?" Where the congregation focuses on God's work for us, the HOP focuses on our work for God. In the HOP we are students of God's emotions. We engage in long periods of prayer and contemplation because that is how we communicate with God. We listen long and hard to what God is saying. If we celebrate God as "Bridegroom" in the congregation, we celebrate God as "King" in the HOP. And what a beautiful and amazing King Jesus is! He is a servant-king, one who goes lower than all, but is exalted above the heavens. One who is perfect in power, but also in humility. And how we long to be like Him - so we ask the Spirit to come and fill our lives, to empower us to grow in peace, patience, gentleness (etc.) so that we might be like Him when He returns.

The Missions Base asks still a different question, "What does God want to do through me?" Whereas the congregation and HOP are focused on the vertical relationship, the missions base focuses on the horizontal relationship, how we live out our faith in a community and in the world. This is a place where we partner with God, where we join in with what He is doing. There is a sense of urgency in the MB. Jesus is coming back and while He is coming back as Bridegroom and King, He is also coming back as Judge. He will judge the living and the dead. He will separate the wheat from the chaff, the sheep from the goats. He will distinguish between the righteous and the wicked. Our goal in the MB stream is to expand God's Kingdom, to grow His family. This stream is primarily concerned with bringing God joy, as we know that He rejoices more over those who repent than over those who have no need of repentance. We are seeking to snatch people from hell, to prepare them for heaven. We are seeking to establish God's Kingdom here on earth and it is in heaven. That means restoring people and the planet, for God cares about both. We seek to establish Godly justice on the earth.

That is the breakdown as I see it. However, each particular section is going to have overflow from the other streams too. Nothing stands on its own. How those elements combine will determine the culture of any particular organization.

Alright, I have already written a book, so I will let you go. Thanks for reading.