Evangelical, Sacramental, and Pentecostal: Why the Church Should Be All Three

by Gordon T. Smith

Evangelical. Sacramental. Pentecostal. Christian communities tend to identify with one of these labels over the other two. Evangelical churches emphasize the importance of Scripture and preaching. Sacramental churches emphasize the importance of the eucharistic table. And pentecostal churches emphasize the immediate presence and power of the Holy Spirit. But must we choose between them? Could the church be all three? Drawing on his reading of the New Testament, the witness of Christian history, and years of experience in Christian ministry and leadership, Gordon T. Smith argues that the church not onlycan be all three, but in fact must be all three in order to truly be the church. As the church navigates the unique global challenges of pluralism, secularism, and fundamentalism, the need for an integrated vision of the community as evangelical, sacramental, and pentecostal becomes ever more pressing. If Jesus and the apostles saw no tension between these characteristics, why should we?

Genres: Theology, Church, Christian, Academic, Christian Non Fiction, Ecclesiology, Religion

143 pages, Paperback

Published March 21, 2017

About the author

Gordon T. Smith is the president of Ambrose University and Seminary in Calgary, Alberta, where he also serves as professor of systematic and spiritual theology. He is an ordained minister with the Christian and Missionary Alliance and a teaching fellow at Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia. He is the author of many books, including Courage and Calling, Called to Be Saints, Spiritual Direction, and Consider Your Calling.

Reviews

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: An argument for why the church at its best ought to embrace an emphasis on scripture, on baptism and the Lord's table, and on the empowering work of the Spirit.

Don't you hate it when a set of choices are presented to you as mutually exclusive options, when all are good and possible together? For example, apple pie or ice cream, or more seriously, being pro-life or pro-creation care. Gordon Smith contends that this is often the case with the three emphases of his title. Often, churches are either evangelical, that is scripture or Word-centered, or sacramental, emphasizing baptism and the Lord's table, or pentecostal, focusing on the empowering work of the Holy Spirit in worship, witness, and growth in Christ-likeness. Smith asks, and then asserts, why shouldn't the church be all three?

Smith begins his discussion with John 15:4, exploring what it means to abide in Christ as Christ abides in us, and how this is fulfilled in the grace of the Word written which witnesses to the Word Incarnate, in water, bread and cup that includes and nourishes us in Christ, and the Holy Spirit through whom Christ indwells us. He then traces the outworking of all this in Luke and Acts. He goes on to explore in the work of John Calvin and John Wesley, how the grace of God comes to us in all three of these ways. He then focuses a chapter on each of these "means of grace," both elaborating how each has been expressed distinctively in the life of the church, and how they function in tandem with the other two.

The evangelical principle is rooted in the truth that God speaks in creation, in his Son, through the apostles and prophets, through their message inscripturated, and through those who proclaim the word in witness and instruction. Word and sacrament complement each other as those who hear and believe are incorporated into the church through baptism, and those who are taught of Christ are then nourished on Him at table. Likewise, the Spirit illumines our reading, our study, preaching and hearing of scripture, so that the Word becomes alive, convicts, and warms our hearts.

The sacramental principle reflect the material, enfleshed nature of creation, the Incarnate Son, and the visible body of the church. Visible symbols of water, wine, and bread are Christ-ordained gestures that speak of our inclusion in and ongoing fellowship (communion) with Christ. They visually demonstrate the message of the gospel but also have no significance apart from the words of institution. Likewise, these acts are not our acts but are "in the Spirit" and depend on the Spirit's work to accomplish in us what they signify.

The pentecost principle reflects the immediacy of our experience of God through the Spirit, where the realities of scripture and sacrament are experienced. Smith talks about the two "sendings" of scripture and advocates that we need to experience both the redemptive work of Christ and the indwelling and empowering work of the Spirit through whom the fruits of Christ-likeness, as well as power for witness are fulfilled.

While I fully affirm Smith's argument, I hope readers will not be put off by the three key words of the title. "Evangelical," "sacramental," and "pentecostal" all have negative connotations, that reflect abuses and failures of the church, but are not inherent in the principles these words represent. I think few would object to the idea that people are called to Christ and conformed to his image through the ministry of the Word, that they are included and nourished in Christ through baptism and the table, and that they are empowered for growth and mission through the Spirit. Smith puts it this way in his conclusion as he describes the new Christian:

"This new Christian would very much be a person of the Scriptures--knowing how to study, read, and pray the Scriptures and how to participate in a community that is formed by the preaching of the Word.

The new Christian would recognize the vital place of the Lord's Supper, within Christian community, as an essential means by which the Christian meets God, walks with God, grows in faith, and lives in Christian community.

And, of course, the new Christian would know what it means to live in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, be guided by the Spirit, and bear the fruit of the Spirit.

In other words, the Christian would be evangelical, sacramental, and pentecostal. And the evidence of such would be that they live with a deep and resilient joy, the fruit of a life lived in dynamic union with the ascended Christ."

Would we want any less, or other for new (or all) Christians? We do well, I think, to weigh the argument Gordon Smith makes, and consider where, in each of our churches, we may more fully lay hold of all Christ has for us. And it just may be that in so doing, we may more closely approximate the "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic" reality we profess in our creeds.

[Benjamin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has a contribution to make, but does not do it well. The point of the book is that the church is to be evangelical (that is, to be centered on the Word of God); sacramental (recognizing the mystery of the sacraments); and pentecostal (recognizing the importance of the work of the Holy Spirit in the church). I agree. I also agree with his analysis of the current state of the American church: that most churches have adopted one of the three, and tossed out the other two. However, I find his solution unhelpful. First, his use of the terms in the title do not match up well with the way the words are more commonly used. This is unhelpful. Second, he has his strongest criticism for the "evangelical" view and his weakest for the "pentecostal." Further, in his view, the best way to strengthen the modern church is to adopt the views of Roman Catholic mystics and twentieth-century Pentecostals and charismatics. He fails to note that the three primary branches of Reformation Protestantism (Lutheran, Anglican, and Reformed) all, at least confessionally, hold a balanced view that includes the importance of the Word, the sacraments, and the work of the Spirit. Perhaps a return to those confessions is in order. This book, despite its brevity, deserves a longer response than I am giving it here.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gordon Smith's Evangelical, Sacramental & Pentecostal begins with a couple of anecdotes. Smith tells about being on a bus heading to a theological conference in Lima, Peru, where he was to speak. He struck up a conversation with Chilean Anglicans and asked them what was distinctive about the Anglican church in their context. They responded,"The Anglican church in Chile is evangelical but not sacramental." Smith silently mused, "but why do you have to choose."(1) Later that year he was visiting a Baptist theological college in Romania before heading to a Pentecostal college. His Baptist host made clear the difference, "we are evangelical, they are pentecostal" (1-2).

Smith asserts that the Christian faith shouldn't be forced into false dichotomies which place Word against sacrament or Word against Spirit. The fullness of Christian experience includes all three dimensions—it is evangelical, sacramental AND pentecostal.  Smith helps enlarge our vision and deepen our ecclesial and spiritual lives. If we are to know the grace of God fully, we need Word, sacrament, and Spirit.

Smith begins by exploring how evangelicals, sacramentalists, and pentecostals each have different approaches to Scripture.  In chapter 1, he examines John 15:4, “Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.” Smith points out, evangelicals  understand the abiding life as involving time in the Word—reading, studying, preaching and meditating on it (14), sacramentalists describe how abiding in Christ involves participating in the Eucharist with a community of the baptized (14-18), pentecostals emphasize the connection between God and humanity which comes through the outpouring of the Spirit's presence (19-20).  Smith observes, "All three, taken together are the means by which the benefits of the cross are known and experienced. The three—the Spirit, along with Word and sacrament—are then the means by which the intent of the cross is fulfilled in the life of the church, the means by which we abide in Christ, as Christ abides in us" (21).

In chapter two, Smith walks through Luke-Acts, highlighting the immediacy of the Spirit, the devotion to the Word and the sacramental fellowship. Chapter three fleshes out how these three components belong together in a full-orbed Christian spirituality. The remaining three chapters consider in turn the evangelical, sacramental and pentecostal streams. Smith explores the insights, contributions, and practices of each stream and the ways in which they augment and inform one another.

Capital "P" Pentecostals will not be happy with everything Smith says here. He does emphasize dynamic spiritual experience—immediacy, and intimacy with God(98) and root this in Pentecost (the Spirit sent in Acts 2, and earlier in John 20:22); however, he looks to the insights of the broader Christian tradition and history in expounding on the pneumatological character of the Christian life, citing John of the Cross and Ignatius of Loyola, but no Pentecostals like Charles Parham, William Seymour, and Azuza street, or other contemporary Pentecostal voices. Pentecostalism and the charismatic movement are spoken of by Smith in broad, general terms. What Smith is attempting to do is hold up the charismatic/pentecostal nature of the Christian life, for Christians of all stripes and theological persuasions. Without the giving of the Spirit, there is no conversion, no Word of God, no sacramental efficacy and no intimacy with God. But if you expect to hear a commendation to charismatic revivalism, tongues speaking, and the ongoing place of prophetic utterance, you won't find it here.

Smith doesn't just dislike hard theological/denominational categories, he himself defies such categorization. He is ordained in the Christian Missionary Alliance and is president and professor of one of their institutions (Ambrose University, Calgary), but his Ph.D. is from Loyola. He is an Evangelical in the holiness tradition who upholds the sacraments. He is a spiritual director and lover of Jesuit spirituality committed to the evangelical mission, ecumenism, and global theological education for the church. This book draws together the various strands.

I was lucky enough to audit a couple of classes with Smith while I attended Regent College. I took a course on Conversion and Transformation and a class on the sacraments, highlighting, in turn, the evangelical and sacramental streams (though in both instances he expounded the pneumatological character of each).  He has become one of my favorite authors of Christian Spirituality and he never fails to make me see things in new ways. I recommend Evangelical, Sacramental, and Pentecostal for anyone who feels like their faith has become one dimensional and wants to deepen their understanding of the Christian life. —★★★★½.

Notice of material connection: I received a copy of this book from IVP Academic in exchange for my honest review.

[Robert D. Cornwall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was intrigued by the title of this book, because I have been an evangelical, a Pentecostal, and an Episcopalian. I try to integrate all into my own life my evangelical, sacramental/Anglican, and Pentecostal sides, plus a few more, and so I was interested in how the author would bring the three together for himself. As one might expect from the publisher, the author writes from a distinctly evangelical perspective, inviting fellow evangelicals to embrace the gifts of the sacramental and Pentecostal traditions.

As to the identity of the author: Gordon Smith is President of Ambrose University and Seminary in Calgary, Alberta. He also teaches theology at the school and is an ordained minister in the Christian and Missionary Alliance, a very distinctly evangelical group. While Smith is a committed evangelical, he believes that the evangelical experience would be enriched by its engagement with the sacramental and Pentecostal traditions, at least as he understands them.

The lens through which Gordon Smith explores the relationship between the three elements is the grace of God. That is, he seeks to help us understand how the interplay of these three principles enable us to appropriate the grace of God. In chapter one, Smith offers the key to what follows. That is what he calls the "extraordinary invitation of John 15:4." that invitation is offered by Jesus to his disciples (and all followers), "abide in me as I abide in you." This is the core premise of the Gospel -- abiding in Jesus even as he abides in us. It is with this in mind that he seeks to explore the interplay of what he calls the evangelical principle, the sacramental principle, and the Pentecostal principle. Moving from John, he looks to Luke-Acts, and finds a witness to the interplay of all three principles as being central to the church being truly itself.

So, if the means of grace comes through all three traditions, then we will want to know what these principles are. He devotes one chapter to each principle, beginning with the one that is most familiar to him, the evangelical tradition. With this principle, Smith focuses on the centrality of Scripture, as it is read, preached, and taught. As such it is a means of grace. He explores how scripture might be interpreted and applied in such a way that the grace of God might be encountered. He believes that this word comes to us from the mouth of God, not in a narrow way, but affirming that we encounter the true words of God in Scripture, and that "the church is sustained, fed, and encouraged by the word" (p. 70). But, this word needs to be acted upon.

Smith will get very few arguments about the centrality of the Word from fellow evangelicals, but he has come to believe that this is not enough if one is to truly experience the grace of God. Thus, he turns to the sacraments, especially baptism and the Lord's Supper. He notes the evangelical ambivalence about the sacraments, but Smith insists (rightly in my mind) that symbols matter. He is disturbed by the ambivalence to the power of these symbols among fellow evangelicals, and so he makes his argument for both Word and Sacrament, noting that "the church has always recognized that there are two great movements in Christian worship -- the Word read, proclaimed, and then the Table, following the Word" (p. 89). With Word and Sacrament is the Spirit.

Moving to the Pentecostal Principle, it needs to be noted that Smith isn't interested in the emphasis on glossalalia. What he's interested in is the emphasis on the necessity of the church being led by and empowered by the Spirit. That is, he takes from the Pentecostal tradition the immediacy of the presence of the Spirit. That is, he insists that the "heart of the Spirit-filled life is an immediate awareness of the presence of Christ, and the fruit or evidence of that awareness is the quality of human experience that is the fruit of living 'in Christ' in gracious community" (p. 111).

The essential message of the book, at least as I would take from it, is that a grace-filled/grace-formed life will require the Word, the Sacraments, and the Spirit who brings the two together into a full experience of God's presence that is transformative. At points I diverge from the author, but that is due in many ways to coming to the three principles from a different theological vantage point. That is, while I embrace the need to hear the Word, I am not an evangelical in terms of my "party." I'm a mainline Protestant who has a strong evangelical rootage. So, my takeaways might be a bit different (though I agree that some in the sacramental tradition downplay scripture and preaching). From my vantage point, we could use a greater dose of all three!

There is much of value here, especially as a reminder that we can learn from each other's traditions.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, Gordon T. Smith makes a case that the church today would do well by embracing it's identity as Evangelical, Sacramental and Pentecostal in it's nature, theology, and practice.

To be Evangelical means, from Smith's perspective, to highly value the Word of God, both as written in the Bible and as responsibly exposited and preached or taught to the church.

To be Sacramental means to participate in the symbolic acts of the Christian faith mandated to us by Jesus in observing The Lord's Supper or Communion and through baptism.

To be Pentecostal means to live with an awareness of the Spirit hovering over and empowering all that the church does.

To be the church means to have all three of these aspects of our identity visible and active within our lives and gatherings. To lift one over the others, as the church so often does, leaves us poorer in our faith and practice.

While there is not much new information here for those who are familiar with Smith's other writings, I think what he has done here in bringing a number of his thoughts and former writings together in this way in this little book, provides the Church with a potential and powerful pathway forward into developing a church culture that can develop a rich, connected, and lasting faith.

[Paul Dubuc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Evangelical, Sacramental, Pentecostal. Almost all Christian churches seem to identify strongly with one of these characteristics at the expense of the other two. I've spent a significant number of years of my life with churches in each one of these expressions of Christianity. I've benefited greatly from this experience, but there's always been something important missing. Most church congregations do not intentionally embrace all three of these of these characteristics and many define themselves, in part, by the rejection of one or two of them. This is a sad state of affairs, particularly for the Church in the West; a significant contributor to its decline, in my opinion.

With this book, Gordon T. Smith makes a very convincing case that the Church (and, I think, churches) should embrace all three of these qualities. He provides very strong biblical support for this view and emphasizes the essential contributions of each characteristic while acknowledging the serious problems that are inherent in each when it is not balanced by the others. This is a very important little book. Much more could be written on this topic, but I hope this book has a large and widespread influence on the future of the Christian Church and churches in particular.

[Trenton Morales · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most significant books I’ve read about spiritual formation. Growing up Pentecostal/Charismatic, I always had this inkling that there was more depth to what I was engaged with. Listening to evangelical biblical teaching and the sacraments has expanded that. Love that this book lays out the case that we can function with all three within the church.

[George P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gordon T. Smith, Evangelical, Sacramental, and Pentecostal: Why the Church Should Be All Three (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2017).

A few years back, I made friends with some young men who were leaving the Assemblies of God (my denomination) for the Episcopal Church. They had grown up in AG congregations and attended AG schools, but they felt something was missing. That something was tradition, liturgy and the sacraments.

Growing up in an AG church in the 1970s and 80s, I knew people whose spiritual journeys were moving in the opposite direction. They were leaving liturgical churches and joining Pentecostal ones because tradition, liturgy and the sacraments seemed like lifeless forms compared to the life-giving power of the Spirit they experienced in the Charismatic Renewal Movement.

And then there were the Baptist Calvinists I debated online who argued that Pentecostalism was overrun by touchy-feely emotionalism, health-and-wealth hucksters, and preaching that’s Dr. Phil and Oprah and Tony Robbins with a patina of Bible proof texts. They thought we’d lost the gospel — and, as a result, lost everything.

I have come to realize that each of these people had a point. The gospel is central. The sacraments are important. Pentecostal experience is vital. The question Gordon T. Smith asks in his new book is why Christians identify as one or another. Why must we choose to be evangelical or sacramental or Pentecostal? Why can’t we be all three?

Smith argues that each is necessary to an “ecology of grace,” which he describes as “...a dynamic, a kind of eco-system, with distinctive contours that brings us to an appreciation of the very way that grace functions, with a generative counterpoint between Word, sacrament, and the immediate presence of the Spirit, with each known and experienced in the fullness of grace precisely because this is how grace works.”

He goes on to define three principles that should exist in every church.

Evangelical Principle. “Scriptures play an animating role in the life of the church, not in a secondary sense, but as a primary means by which the church appropriates and lives in the grace of the risen and ascended Christ.”
Sacramental Principle. “God is revealed and God’s grace is known through physical, material reality, including, most notably, baptism and the Lord’s Supper.”
Pentecost Principle. “[T]he Christian life is lived in the grace and power of the Holy Spirit and that is experienced immediately.”

Put that way, the necessity of each principle seems almost self-evident, at least to me. Think of Acts 2, a passage we Pentecostals love. It begins with the disciples’ experience of the Holy Spirit (verses 1–11), continues with Peter’s Scripture-filled sermon that calls hearers to repentance and salvation (verses 12–40), and concludes with the description of a Church that, among other things, baptizes converts and shares the Lord’s Supper among disciples (verses 41–47). In other words, the Acts 2 Church was Pentecostal, evangelical and sacramental.

Evangelical, Sacramental, and Pentecostal is a short work readers can finish in a couple of hours. It is a suggestive treatment of the issues rather than a definitive one. And, no doubt, readers will find nits to pick — points where Smith doesn’t do their tradition full justice, in their opinion.

Still, it is an important book that left me longing for a church with an ecology of grace that includes Word, sacraments (or ordinances, as Pentecostals like to call them) and Spirit. If the Acts 2 Church embodied all three principles, shouldn’t contemporary Acts 2 churches do so, too?

_____
P.S. This review was written for InfluenceMagazine.com and appears here by permission.

P.P.S. If you found my review helpful, please vote "Yes" on my Amazon review page.

[Matthew Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Evangelical, Sacramental & Pentecostal: Why the Church should be all Three, Gordon T. Smith talks about how the Word of God, the sacraments, and the Spirit are essential components of any church. The book is presumably written because many churches do not have all three of these.
I read this book for a project in which I was exploring the beliefs of the Holy Spirit by the Presbyterian, Anglican, and Pentecostal churches, and I found Evangelical, Sacramental, and Pentecostal categories to line closely up with that.
One expectation I had of the book is that it would blur the doctrinal lines which had recently been so clear to me and champion unity in their place. Smith’s book certainly begins to do this, but it turns out that this is a truly Promethean task. Smith acknowledges that traditions have their own views on these issues, which makes it hard for some to buy into the thesis of his book. For example, the Evangelical has likely been catechized to believe a certain thing about the sacraments and Pentecost. It would be silly to believe that a 133-page book could break down the centuries of division in the church concerning the Word, the sacraments, and the Spirit, but it lays good groundwork for future study. Instead of accusing traditions for being pigeon-holed, Smith draws blueprints for what it would look like if the universal Church embodied the Evangelical, the Sacramental, and the Pentecostal.
Smith grounds the thesis of the book in John 15:4: “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” (NIV) Smith engages in an exegesis of John where this invitation to remain, or abide in Christ, is an invitation to remain or abide with the whole Trinity. To Smith, this leads all Christians to the same question: “How can we, mere mortals, be in dynamic fellowship and union with Christ, Lord of heaven and earth, one with the Father and the Spirit?” (14)
To Smith, there have been three main answers to this question in the history of the Church: the Evangelical, the Sacramental, and the Pentecostal. Smith notes how an evangelical would answer this question by looking to the immediate context and pointing out that John 15:7 speaks about God’s words remaining in the believer. They might turn to John 8:31 where the disciples are seen as those who continue in God’s word, or even to John 1, where Jesus is the ordering λογος of the world.
Someone of a sacramental persuasion would look at the same question and point out that the Word in John I was made flesh and dwelt among humans. The emphasis here is that Christ assumed materiality so that we might become children of God (Gal 4:4-5). A sacramental believer would likely point to John three and see that Christians are born of water and Spirit, and also to John six, where Christ exhorts his followers to eat his body and drink his blood. These constitute the sacraments of Baptism and The Lord’s Supper. Church worship, from this persuasion, is primarily the gathering of the baptized in a shared communion at the Table.
Finally, a Pentecostal would understand dynamic fellowship with the Trinity through passages like John 15:26 and 16:12-14, and conclude that it is the Spirit that is to lead the disciples to understanding and truth, and to glorify Christ through the disciples. A Pentecostal Christian would not marginalize Luke 3:16 when John the Baptist says he baptizes with water but that the Christ will baptize with water and with fire. This passage would then connect strongly with Acts two when the Spirit is poured out at Pentecost. Church worship, from this perspective, is the assembly of believers empowered by the Spirit.
Smith ends the book with hints and guesses at what a church might look like with an evangelical, sacramental, and Pentecostal vision. Smith offers two distinctive ways that a community can embody these. First, Smith suggests that Christians can find space for evangelical, sacramental, and Pentecostal thought in the church calendar. One way of doing this is to see Lent and Holy Week as an opportunity to reflect on the Word rather than be distracted by the world. Likewise, Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany lends to a sacramental way of life that reflects on the incarnate Christ. Finally, Pentecost can remind Christians of the power that the Spirit had on the early Church and still has on the Church today.
A second way a community can embody these is in liturgical spaces, or in the physical appearance of the sanctuary. In evangelical churches, the pulpit us usually in the center. In a sacramental service, the altar or table for communion is in the center. In many Pentecostal churches, the drum set is in the center. Each of these visually signifies an emphasis on either teaching, breaking bread, or musical worship. Smith exhorts congregations to put the table on the same level as the pulpit, as well as a visual emblem of the Holy Spirit so that the congregation can visually see the importance of all three in the church service.
Obviously, Smith is not trying to unite all traditions into one, but his book serves to remind professing Christians of the truths that they acknowledge but that they do not practice, those which they believe but that they do not see at church on a weekly basis. It starts a better conversation about the ways that different believers seek to abide in Christ and offers a basic criteria for what Christian Churches should seek.
I would particularly recommend this book for anyone seeking to start a Church, revising the structures of their church, or anyone curious to know what other traditions hold in store.

[Jacob Aitken · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gordon T. Smith gives us a neat idea and probably predicts the direction the church is going. Various Evangelical streams are recovering the sacramentality of the ancient tradition and realizing that there aren’t any good arguments against cessationism.  While some chapter are outstanding, the book never really develops in satisfactory detail what such an integrated tradition would look like.

Thesis: There are three distinct angles by which we live in the grace of the ascended Christ. If this is true, then the key question becomes: “What is the mode in which we participate in the ascended Christ?”  How do we “abide in him?”

The Evangelical answer: The Word transcends heaven and earth.  We are drawn into fellowship through the Word.

The Sacramental answer: Since God in Christ assumed materiality, material objects can serve as means in our participation in Christ. We are born of “water and Spirit.”  Water is the stuff of creation.

The Pentecostal answer: the gift of the Spirit is the connection between heaven and earth.

The Spirit and the Life of the Church in Luke-Acts

Thesis: Luke-Acts “pivots” on the Ascension. 

The Grace of God: Evangelical, Sacramental, Pentecostal

God’s grace is sufficient, but we are irresponsible if we do not follow up with the God-appointed means.  How do we integrate these streams? Smith suggests that the grace of God in the Spirit is found in God’s very self.

There is an overlap of 2 streams in the Eucharist.  There is the sacramental stream, obviously, but then there is the epiclesis.  He then ties this in with standard Calvinist treatment on Eucharist and Ascension.  Notes that Calvin was resistant, however, to a direct access to the Spirit.

Theology of the Word

There is a sequence of Creation-Logos-Apostles-Scripture

Sacramental Symbols

The sacraments are symbols, but this is far more real than anything low-church groups would be comfortable with.  A sign points to another reality (like a green light). Yet, it isn’t necessarily connected with that reality (i.e., there is nothing essential in the nature of a green light that means “go”).

In a symbol, by contrast, we enter into and beyond that which is symbolized.  Church symbols and rituals are also “inherently communal.” Symbols integrate our heart and mind in our bodies.

Pentecostal Spirit

Origen and Discernment of Spirits. 

Thesis: Our response to the Spirit arises from a personal encounter with Christ.  

Spirit practices.  Unfortunately, Smith gives us zero guidance or discussion on how to integrate these.

>> Anointing the sick.  I agree 100%.  So, what is the symbolism of oil?

>>Discernment and prophecies

>>Prayer

>>Tongues-speaking

>>Anointing with oil.

[Jeff Bjorgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book, full of synergy, Smith takes three main streams of Christian worship and expression and "steam punks" them into a fair, encouraging and creative "fourth way". Smith's description of the Evangelical, Sacred, and Pentecostal expressions of Christianity are inviting and inspiring to the believer. His level-headed approach to Pentecostal theology (I believe he comes more out of the evangelical tradition) was particularly commendable. Speaking out of my own tradition, I think Pentecostals would be encouraged by his articulation of Pentecostal worship. He makes them sound rather thoughtful in their approach, and, as any coach knows, affirmation can spur players on to becoming greater versions of themselves.

Smith consistently argues persuasively throughout the book that Christianity needs all three expressions at all times for vibrant Christian living. For instance, he writes:

"We are going to speak of the immediacy of the Spirit in the life of the church, but we can only truly do so if and as both Word and sacrament are fully informing, animating, and grounding the life of the church. We are not truly pentecostal, in other words, unless we are sacramental, and we are not truly a people who live in the fullness of the Spirit if we are not a people who live by and are feeding on the Word." (p. 116)

And that's the basic tone of the book, peeling back the skins on an onion, revealing different takes on this repeating theme. Smith ends the book with a couple of fantastic suggestions on how to 1. organize the place of worship in such a way that speaks to all three expressions and 2. What Christian initiation would look like if all three expressions were taken into consideration.

An encouraging and fresh read, particularly helpful for service planners, worship leaders, and pastors.

Of note: I noticed on Good Reads another book that uses the same categories of Evangelical, Pentecostal, and Sacramental (Broken by Religion, Healed by God, by Gordon Dalbey) that adds a fourth category: Social Justice church. The more I think about that, the more I think that "Social Justice as an expression of worship" has been a common stream in Christian circles that is arguably found in one of Smith's foundational texts of Christian initiation and Spirit Empowerment (Acts 2) but is conspicuously absent.

[Fred · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short, helpful, plea to bring together what is best in the three major Christian traditions. Gordon Smith's background is diverse enough to be able to speak with clarity on diverse traditions and it is hard not to be persuaded with the basic thesis. The church should be evangelical, sacramental and pentecostal. Who could argue with that especially considering the broad way he uses those terms? Unfortunately much of his thesis rests in dodging the sticky points in each theological tradition. If he were to address them (he certainly can as a PhD in theology) it would me a much longer book. So we are left with a well intentioned, but overly mild treatment. He discusses what is good about the evangelical tradition, but never talks about post-modernity. He connects pentecostalism with mysticism which brings historical depth to direct experience with God. But he never discusses the "second blessing" of modern pentecostal thought. He discusses the necessity of the sacraments rooting it in the theology of creation and incarnation, but he never discusses either transubstantiation or baptism by immersion verses infant baptism. You can see why this could be a much longer book. It is probably time to put most of these differences behind us, or at least to see them as the minor issues that they are for the sake of global unity. But these differences are part of the reason churches have a hard time being evangelical, sacramental and pentecostal in the way Smith suggests.

[Steven Rodriguez · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing and argumentation are not as sharp as I was hoping they would be, but the core idea, that the church needs to be evangelical, sacramental, and pentecostal, is 100% right on. Smith is synthesizing a lot of really great stuff that has already been argued elsewhere.

To summarize very briefly, the evangelical impulse is committed to Christ's presence through scripture, the sacramental impulse is committed to Christ's presence in baptism and the Lord's Supper, and the pentecostal impulse is committed to Christ's presence in the direct, miraculous power of the Spirit. All three impulses are grounded in the story of Acts 2, and all three are predicated on a strong doctrine of the ascension. We need all three!

Fun fact I learned in this book: in his sermons, John Wesley argued for weekly communion, and even daily communion! Wesley, who strongly embodied the evangelical and pentecostal impulses, also advocated for the sacramental. The synthesis is possible, but only through great internal torment. (Have you read Wesley's writings?) And, immediately after Wesley, the synthesis broke down. It's just too hard to keep it together. But I say, let's try again!

[Leslie Fanchon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is only 132 pages, and I'm glad I read it. The author did seem to repeat several points over and over again but maybe that was to make sure the reader remembered it. I thought he was balanced in presenting the three aspects, showing the pros and cons of each as a principle and when practiced alone.

The first thing I learned was how vital the ascension of Christ is to the theology of the Holy Spirit and the life of the church.

Having belonged to evangelical, Pentecostal and sacramental churches I can see how important all three are in worshiping, knowing and experiencing our God.

There is a brief concluding chapter, but throughout the book he demonstrated how all three principles together are vital to the life of the Church.

[Brandon G. Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Important theological thesis

Gordon Smith's thesis is clear in the title. The Church should be evangelical, sacramental, and Pentecostal. Smith showcases how being all three of these will protect the church from some of the excesses and traps of the others, therefore giving the Church the ability to be a well-rounded worship community. Toward the end, I do think Smith makes too big of a deal about how our worship spaces look and how they should physically represent how they are all three of these forms. I think this is simply impractical for some buildings that house church communities, but this does not take away from this important work.

[Michael Womack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Smith does a great job of arguing for a high view of both sacraments and word and maintaining a Spirit-filled assembly.

While he often insists that churches should have a high view of scripture, most established churches already do. He devotes most of his time arguing for Protestants to adopt a higher view of the sacraments, namely Baptism and Communion, and RC/Orthos/High Protestants to be open to a more Spirit filled church and life.

Smith does a wonderful job of explaining and defending how all three elements, Spirit, Word, and Sacrament, all function together and the Church must have all three

[Jacob Hotchkiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

This book was fantastic! Smith offers great insight into the three major streams of faith throughout church history, and he powerfully calls the Church to re-engage with each, demonstrating the importance of the Word, the sacraments, and the Spirit in the life of the church and the life of all Christians. As a pastor, I’m encouraged and inspired to give much greater emphasis in my church to that which I’ve been lacking, and thus, to be more engaged in the life of the ascended Christ.

[Jason Leonard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good meditation on God's work in and through the community of His people - the Church. We shouldn't choose between being evangelical, sacramental, or pentecostal. We are called to embrace and celebrate the means of grace in the Word, Spirit, and Sacraments.

Overall a relatively solid, ecumenical, and boring read. I was mostly impressed with the focus on God's people, the reminder that unity with God in Christ is of foundational importance, and the brief exploration of our Church calendar as ways to lean into the different means of grace.

[Timothy Holmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great primer on the ecumenical calling of the church. Gordon does a great job highlighting the key benefits each tradition brings to the capital C Church, and why discipleship is incomplete without all the traditions. I think this message is especially timely for the American church where denominational divisions have causes so much tension among the Church. A prophetic word for the Body.

[Chad Short · Rating 5 out of 5]

Smith offers a clear and concise case for the church to embrace all three strands of Christian expression: the evangelical. He explores what each tradition offers to the church and how each tradition is enriched by the other two. Readers familiar with only one of the three strands will be enriched by learning about the other two.

[Christin Woods · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book helpful and insightful. I think it would be a good read for those struggling to understand how the three streams might come together. I did find the section on Sacraments lacking as it still seemed to have a bit of an Evangelical understanding of Sacrament. However, I appreciate the spirit in which the book was written.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great review of how these things go together in every church

Loved his review of these three great traditions...and how they are each facets of the faith once delivered to the saints and therefore we are all three, ideally.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book to be thoughtful, engaging, historically accurate, and important for the church today. The combining of streams in unity and the vitality of the church is such a refreshing reminder of what the church can be.

[Ephrem Arcement · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gordon T. Smith and I speak the same language! I am happy to become acquainted with him through this insightful and important book. It has served me well in my own deliberations and discernment on the dimensions of the Church and will, I pray, help the Church in her journey toward wholeness.

[Patricia Hancock · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel that this book should be required of all pastors of all disciplines to truly understand what the Biblical Church should be. I felt a very good analysis of all the major types of churches with no degrading of any but identifying all their strengths and weaknesses.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

By far one of the best books I've read. Blends the inner devotional life and the outer community life of a follower of Christ. Learned a lot! This is one of my Top 10 of any subject.

[Brandon Rathbun · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that could have been a blog honestly. Good points though.

[Michael Markakis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The topic was very interesting but I wasn't crazy about the writing style. It was a little choppy to read but I may just not be a strong enough reader to enjoy his style

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview of what it means for the church to embrace each of these three aspects, but at times I wanted more practicalities for what each of these mean in lived out practice.

[Theology Matters- Tanya's Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book boring. I think that it hits the mark conceptually but would have preferred it if it was more academic. It just didn't really hit like I had hoped.