i'm not post anything

Date: 13 March 2012 00:53:44

Forty blogs of Lent

18

Post Charismatic and Post Evangelical in a Post Modern world. That's a lot of posts. And I could describe myself in those terms, but I don't, Firstly because when you describe yourself as post something it can be implied that you are against them. I'm not. Looking at Post Evangelical first, those who use the term are distancing themselves from the sort of Evangelicalism that, especially in the USA, is tied to right wing politics and consumerism. But Evangelicals need not be like that, I am proud to use the term Evangelical because of the historic links to people like Shaftsbury setting up children's homes and working for workers' rights. Or to Wilberforce, working against the slave trade. That people should have an experience of Christ in the best Evangelical tradition, and that experience should lead them into tackling the social issues of the day is something that I see continuing. Even if that direction brings them into being criticised by other Evangelicals - this too is an ancient tradition. And Post Charismatic. Having read the book by that title by Rob McAlpine I found a lot of it didn't apply to my experiences as a Charismatic within the Anglican church, having been spared the excesses of domineering leadership that McAlpine spends so much of his book on. So I may no longer wave my hands in the air in every hymn and song, and you may find me using Lectio Divina to meditate on Scripture, but I'm just as Evangelical and Charismatic as I ever was, even though the way I express it may have changed. I'm not post anything.