"The brothers and sisters are enthusiastic readers of the Bible and intellectually understand the Word of God. Emotionally, they should be longing for the anointing of the Holy Spirit and ministering by the power of the Holy Spirit," said a pastor when it comes to the definition of a healthy church.
The late 1970s to the 1990s were a period of rapid development for the church in China. The church at that time was full of testimonies of healing the sick and casting out demons. However, many believers do not have a deep understanding of the gospel, and there are ignorant and extreme ideas. For example, some people who are used to praying to other gods and the Buddha tend to worship Christianity as another idol. Others overemphasize miracles and exalt personal spiritual gifts, thereby neglecting biblical truth and causing confusion in the church.
After 2000, when the revival of the Chinese Church shifted from the countryside to the cities began, more and more pastors began to pay attention to theological education. The proliferation of seminaries means that the Chinese church has begun to rationalize.
For many pastors who have lived through the spiritual revival and the two following eras of exaltation of reason and theology, they have experienced more comprehensive things and reflected more deeply. They found that the ministry could not fall into two extremes, which are the one-sided exaltation of spirituality and the one-sided exaltation of reason and theology.
Pastor M is a grassroots pastor living in the north of China and often visits churches around the country to serve.
According to Pastor M, there have been two significant waves influencing the growth of the church in China over the past 40 years or so. One wave comes from Charismatics, especially extreme Charismatics (Pastor M believes that Charismatics are not heretics, but there are extreme phenomena about them), which over-emphasize dialects, worship on bended knees, spiritual songs, and spiritual dances, and believe that there is no rebirth without the gift of tongue. The church at this time is more spiritual and more sensory (experimental). The second wave refers to the return to theology, because the church felt that it had deviated from the truth of the Bible, so it began to carry out theological education on a large scale, but it turned out to be overcorrecting. The Church moved toward rationality and theology, neglecting prayer and the shaping of spiritual life.
Pastor M said, "Church history is like a pendulum effect. There is a period of emphasis on spirituality, on signs and wonders, and on truth. For a period of time, the church lost the power of the Holy Spirit and could not heal the sick or cast out demons because of its emphasis on rationality. Currently, some church pastors refuse to even acknowledge the existence of ghosts and blame mental illness for illnesses like ghost possession. After a period of time, people prayed to seek those miracles ang signs because they were eager to return to spirituality, and the church wanted to pull people back from reason. Then they went too far, thinking that theology was all human theory and had no redeeming qualities."
The Church often walks a fine line between rationality and spirituality (or emotional experience). It's meant to be balanced, but it often ends up being left or right, he explained.
Pastor M used the Reformation of Martin Luther and John Calvin as examples of what balance is. The background of the Reformation was that the Catholic Church was very desolate at that time, and the church needed repairs but had no money. The church at that time created indulgences and began to persuade people to buy indulgences for themselves to ensure their admission to heaven. Later, people could buy indulgences for their dead relatives. Pastor M vividly described, "The saying at that time was that when your money fell into the offering box, your loved ones soon flew from hell to heaven! It is clear that this kind of teaching is completely contrary to the Bible, which teaches salvation by money. But salvation is by the grace of God, and man is justified by faith, not by works of man."
In Pastor M's view, it was necessary to exalt God's sovereignty at that time, while the Reformation was also necessary. "But the context of today's times is very different from that of Calvin's Reformation; there is no church that makes people pay for indulgences, and there is no emphasis on works. On the contrary, many people misunderstand justification by faith. They believe that because it is morally justifiable, there is no need for them to do anything. Some even think that since they have been saved, it does not matter what sin they have committed because they'll get a pardon anyway!" he added.
In this context, Pastor M suggests that we consider James' theology: "Faith without works is dead." He stressed that "the center of the cross is balance, and salvation is God's sovereignty, but it also requires a human response." The saved Christian has the duty and obligation to live out the honor and holiness of his birth and needs to live out the testimony commensurate with his salvation. Response is not the condition of salvation; it is the manifestation of salvation. When the pendulum has swung in favor of human behavior, then we have to pull the pendulum back and tell people that we will be saved only by God's grace. And when people feel that they can be saved no matter what, we will tell them that the saved person needs to live up to their actions."
For mature churches and mature Christians, there must be both the framework and theory of theological truth as guidance, and the prayer of life and the witness of life. Theology can help us realize the truth, and there is a balance between truth and spirituality (life).
Pastor M also pointed out that theology is not a substitute for truth, but we need different theological guidance in different situations. In conclusion, we need a balance between denying neither the significance of spirituality nor the significance of theology.
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
M牧师说健康的教会应该是这样：“弟兄姊妹热心读经，理性上明白上帝的道；感性上火热，渴望圣灵的恩膏，依靠圣灵的能力服事。”
上个世纪70年代末到90年代，是中国教会发展飞快的时期。那个时期教会里到处都有医病赶鬼的见证。但很多信徒对福音的理解不够深入，存在愚昧偏激的想法。比如一部分习惯了求神拜佛供大仙的人们容易把基督信仰当做另一种偶像来拜。另外一些人则过度强调神迹奇事，高举个人的属灵恩赐，从而忽视了圣经真理，也造成了教会的混乱。
2000年之后，中国教会从农村的复兴开始转为城市教会的复兴之后，越来越多的牧者和传道人开始重视神学教育。神学院遍地开花，意味着中国教会开始理性化。
对于不少先后经历过灵性复兴、以及后面的高举理性和神学的两个时代的牧者来说，他们经历得更全面，反思也更深刻。他们发现牧会不能陷入到两个极端里面：片面高举灵性、或者片面高举理性和神学。
M牧师是一位生活在北方的基层牧师，也经常到各地教会走访服事。
M牧师表示中国教会在过去大约四十年的发展中主要遭遇了两波冲击。一波来自灵恩派，尤其是极端灵恩派（M牧师认为灵恩派不是异端，但是有极端现象）过度强调方言、扑倒、灵歌、灵舞，认为不说方言不重生等。此时的教会偏灵性，偏感觉（经验）。第二波则是回归神学，因为觉得教会与圣书真理偏离了，所以教会开始大规模地开展神学教育，结果却是矫枉过正。教会又走向偏理性，偏神学，从而忽略了祈祷和灵性生命的塑造。
M牧师表示：“教会历史如同钟摆效应：一段时间注重灵性，注重神迹奇事，轻看真理；一段时间偏理性，结果是教会失去了圣灵的能力，不能医病也不能赶鬼了。甚至有些教会牧者不承认有鬼了，把被鬼附一类的疾病都归结为精神疾病；再过一段时间，大家又祷告追求，想要回归灵性，想把人们从理性中拉回来。结果又拉过了头，认为神学都是人的理论，没有可取之处……”
教会常常游走在理性和灵性（或感性经验）中间。本来是为了平衡，但结果常常是或偏左，或偏右。
M牧师以马丁·路德和加尔文时期的改教运动为例来讲什么是平衡。改教的背景是当时的天主教很落寞，教堂需要修理但是没有钱。当时的教会就弄了赎罪券，开始劝人为自己购买赎罪券，以保证自己进天堂。后来又发展到人还可以为死去的亲人买赎罪券。 M牧师形象地描述：“当时的说法是，当你的钱‘叮咚’掉进奉献箱，你的亲人就从地狱‘嗖’地上了天堂！很明显这种教导已经完全违背圣书，这是靠金钱，靠行为得救。但得救是上帝的恩典，人是因信称义，绝不是靠人的行为。”
在M牧师看来，这个时候高举上帝的主权，是必要的，坚持改教也是必要的。但今天这个时代跟加尔文改教时期的背景则完全不同，现在没有教会让人花钱买赎罪券了，大家也不再强调行为了。相反很多人把因信称义理解偏了，他们认为，既然是因信称义，那么我什么都不做就可以，因为完全不需要行为。甚至有人认为既然我已经得救了，犯什么罪都没有关系了！反正会得到赦免的！
如果是在这个处境下，M牧师则建议我们去思考雅各的神学——“信心没有行为是死的”。他强调，“十字架的中心是平衡性，救恩是上帝的主权，但也需要有人的回应。因为得救的基督徒有责任有义务活出生命中那份尊荣和圣洁，需要活出与救恩相称的见证来。回应不是得救的条件，但却是得救的彰显。当钟摆已经偏向人的行为，那我们就要把钟摆拉回来，告诉人只因恩典。而当人们觉得无论怎样都可以得救，那就要告诉他得救的人需要活出你的行为来。”
教会到底该偏向理性还是灵性？对于成熟的教会，成熟的基督徒来说，既要有神学真理的框架和理论作为指导，又要有生命的祈祷和生活见证。神学可以帮助我们认识真理，真理和灵性（生命）都有，才是平衡。
M牧师也指出，神学虽然不能代替真理，但在不同的处境下，我们需要不同的神学指导。总之，我们需要平衡，既不应当否认灵性，也不应该否认神学的意义。
一东北牧者分享：灵性和神学之间要平衡
"The brothers and sisters are enthusiastic readers of the Bible and intellectually understand the Word of God. Emotionally, they should be longing for the anointing of the Holy Spirit and ministering by the power of the Holy Spirit," said a pastor when it comes to the definition of a healthy church.
The late 1970s to the 1990s were a period of rapid development for the church in China. The church at that time was full of testimonies of healing the sick and casting out demons. However, many believers do not have a deep understanding of the gospel, and there are ignorant and extreme ideas. For example, some people who are used to praying to other gods and the Buddha tend to worship Christianity as another idol. Others overemphasize miracles and exalt personal spiritual gifts, thereby neglecting biblical truth and causing confusion in the church.
After 2000, when the revival of the Chinese Church shifted from the countryside to the cities began, more and more pastors began to pay attention to theological education. The proliferation of seminaries means that the Chinese church has begun to rationalize.
For many pastors who have lived through the spiritual revival and the two following eras of exaltation of reason and theology, they have experienced more comprehensive things and reflected more deeply. They found that the ministry could not fall into two extremes, which are the one-sided exaltation of spirituality and the one-sided exaltation of reason and theology.
Pastor M is a grassroots pastor living in the north of China and often visits churches around the country to serve.
According to Pastor M, there have been two significant waves influencing the growth of the church in China over the past 40 years or so. One wave comes from Charismatics, especially extreme Charismatics (Pastor M believes that Charismatics are not heretics, but there are extreme phenomena about them), which over-emphasize dialects, worship on bended knees, spiritual songs, and spiritual dances, and believe that there is no rebirth without the gift of tongue. The church at this time is more spiritual and more sensory (experimental). The second wave refers to the return to theology, because the church felt that it had deviated from the truth of the Bible, so it began to carry out theological education on a large scale, but it turned out to be overcorrecting. The Church moved toward rationality and theology, neglecting prayer and the shaping of spiritual life.
Pastor M said, "Church history is like a pendulum effect. There is a period of emphasis on spirituality, on signs and wonders, and on truth. For a period of time, the church lost the power of the Holy Spirit and could not heal the sick or cast out demons because of its emphasis on rationality. Currently, some church pastors refuse to even acknowledge the existence of ghosts and blame mental illness for illnesses like ghost possession. After a period of time, people prayed to seek those miracles ang signs because they were eager to return to spirituality, and the church wanted to pull people back from reason. Then they went too far, thinking that theology was all human theory and had no redeeming qualities."
The Church often walks a fine line between rationality and spirituality (or emotional experience). It's meant to be balanced, but it often ends up being left or right, he explained.
Pastor M used the Reformation of Martin Luther and John Calvin as examples of what balance is. The background of the Reformation was that the Catholic Church was very desolate at that time, and the church needed repairs but had no money. The church at that time created indulgences and began to persuade people to buy indulgences for themselves to ensure their admission to heaven. Later, people could buy indulgences for their dead relatives. Pastor M vividly described, "The saying at that time was that when your money fell into the offering box, your loved ones soon flew from hell to heaven! It is clear that this kind of teaching is completely contrary to the Bible, which teaches salvation by money. But salvation is by the grace of God, and man is justified by faith, not by works of man."
In Pastor M's view, it was necessary to exalt God's sovereignty at that time, while the Reformation was also necessary. "But the context of today's times is very different from that of Calvin's Reformation; there is no church that makes people pay for indulgences, and there is no emphasis on works. On the contrary, many people misunderstand justification by faith. They believe that because it is morally justifiable, there is no need for them to do anything. Some even think that since they have been saved, it does not matter what sin they have committed because they'll get a pardon anyway!" he added.
In this context, Pastor M suggests that we consider James' theology: "Faith without works is dead." He stressed that "the center of the cross is balance, and salvation is God's sovereignty, but it also requires a human response." The saved Christian has the duty and obligation to live out the honor and holiness of his birth and needs to live out the testimony commensurate with his salvation. Response is not the condition of salvation; it is the manifestation of salvation. When the pendulum has swung in favor of human behavior, then we have to pull the pendulum back and tell people that we will be saved only by God's grace. And when people feel that they can be saved no matter what, we will tell them that the saved person needs to live up to their actions."
For mature churches and mature Christians, there must be both the framework and theory of theological truth as guidance, and the prayer of life and the witness of life. Theology can help us realize the truth, and there is a balance between truth and spirituality (life).
Pastor M also pointed out that theology is not a substitute for truth, but we need different theological guidance in different situations. In conclusion, we need a balance between denying neither the significance of spirituality nor the significance of theology.
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
Healthy Churches Balance Between Spirituality and Theology
