If you were a church pastor /leader, how will you maintain the balance of the experience of worship and the importance of the word among your congregation.

Note some of your congregation may dig in more to the experience while some may get offended by those manifestations. How will you handle such scenario


have fun!

Hmm... Another question like the one from Lionel previously... (Hope this doesn't form a habit or else I would have to really crack my head! Haha!). Anyway, again, I will try my best to answer.

As I answered Lionel, being a pastor, one needs to teach the right thing. But to add on, the pastor, being the head of the church (a.k.a. overseer) will influence the way a church service is run.

Being a Pentecostal, I am in no way against worship nor am I against the move of the Spirit but I am against worship being placed superior than the Word until it is as if the Word is shoved away. This I cannot agree.

If I am to handle this situation in my church, I would emphasize on 2 things:
1. Worship is for God and God alone. We should not choose songs or music just because we feel good or because we can hype up the congregation (as stated in my blog entry) but because of God. It has to be from a sincere heart of worship to God and for God. (I will not ellaborate furthur or I would be repeating what I answered in my earlier post.)

2. The necessity of the Word. The problem here is that the Word has been set aside or been placed inferior to the 'experience of worship'. Jesus said in Matt 4:4 that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” This is a fact. In other words, the Word of God is vital to a Christian as food is as important to us (or better, air). 1 Pet 2:2 reads "like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation". 2 Tim 3:16,17 says "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."

The truth of the matter is that we still need the Word of God. Again, I am not saying that the experience of worship is wrong. No! But I am saying that weightage still has to be placed on the Word and not to be shoved away or deemed as inferior as to worship. Even if there is a manifestation of the Spirit and say there are prophecies, these prophecies have to be in line with what the Bible says!

Being the pastor of the church, this is what I would emphasize. In short: 1. Worship is for God and God alone. It shouldn't be dictated by how we want to feel. 2. The Word of God is important to our spiritual growth and should not be shoved away and be replaced by just the experience of worship. Besides, if one does not get the 'experience of worship', does that mean that Christianity is all a lie? Doesn't this 'experience' then make it all about us and how we feel and not that worship is for God? I personally feel that this is a paradigm we have to be clear about and change if necessary. That worship is NOT about us but about God and the Word is in NO WAY inferior or to be replaced by the 'experience of worship' but the Word has to be a vital part of our spiritual walk. This, is what I will teach my congregation.

Again, this is just my view. I hope I did answer your question as to what you wanted... Sorry if I didn't and sorry if I am not clear. But thanks for that question and making me think.

(p/s: I had fun! haha!)

In your post, I sense a deep pain and concern that you have for what is going on. what is your greatest fear in all that is going on?

Secondly your acusation of the Emotionalizing of the service and the hype in aservice seems to be the same as Parham acused Seymour of emotinalizing the service when Pentecostalism first started. Is there a difference between the accusation then and now (your accusation against this 'manufactured' worship)? Isn't deep emotions also part of what it means to be Pentecostal?

Hi there. Finding your blog interesting. But i think there is a wider picture that you might have to see in term of pentecostal spirituality. I think, many people might confuse in term of charismatic spirituality and pentecostal spirituality (find out yourself what are the differences).

In your definition of spirituality, it is rather narrow to base on a single author that spirituality is about our belief and emotional attitude. It sounds like a cognitive understanding of a human, but human are more complex that that. There are many things affect the spirituality of a person.

There are some books that i would suggest that you should read on it. I don't remember the exact title, but it is written by Mcgrawth (I am not sure the spelling - ask your lecturer) on comparison of spirituality, Simon Chan's book on Pentecostal Spiritual Traditioning, Kenneth Boa on Spiritual Paradigm, and another book located in your BCM library shelf together with all those pentecostal books (i think the title is Pentecostal Spirituality).

You should also study on a good book written by Amos Yong on pentecostal globalization (something like that - also located in your BCM library together with all those pentecostal books). It will broaden your perspective in synthesizing between culture and spirituality.

In fact, in our pentecostal belief, we actually hold very strong to the Word of God. Yet, it could be due to the rise of the postmodern age, and music culture that affected the church (compare youth church with a church with more seniors members).

I think we are called to be lovers of God, and in that sense we are also call to love His people. I think you are quite young as well, and being in the post modern generation, you know well that forcing a truth to the young congregation might not be the best choice. But it is good that you have a strong stand.

I think you have rightly pointed that pentecostal spirituality base a lot on personal experience. We believe and we experience. But i would also like to broaden the subject on experience. Many times we focus on the spiritual heighten (or ecstasy some would call it), yet we kind a have a weak doctrine on suffering as part of the sanctification process where we will also experience God.

We emphasis on spiritual crisis experience (not really crisis la) - salvation and speaking in tongues, yet we have not taught our pentecostal believers about the experience of going through the valley of the shadow of death, which is unavoidable in our spiritual walk.

Hence, i agree with you that we do have to balance our perspective. You have written nicely on this article. Well done! Keep it up!

Btw, don't just always focus on going back to the origin. Although we have to know our history, but we can't live in it anymore. History is to help us to see a better future.

My two cents ...

As you have mentioned, "Even if there is a manifestation of the Spirit and say there are prophecies, these prophecies have to be in line with what the Bible says!"

Very True Indeed!!

but however not everytime we can determine if what was prophesied is inline with the Bible yet also is out of a PURE MOTIVE. Some people prophesy in line with the Bible out of wrong motive, ie: to hit others down, maliciously "teach" someone....etc..

And we know if such things happen but is not edifying the body of Christ is definately not of the Spirit. And I think this is why many Pentecostal churches are not on the cutting edge in this aspect of prophesies and interpretation of tongues. Because they fear things like what I've just mentioned might happen they rather not try it less it causes more problem and division in the church.


SO... my ques is, is this a valid reason to minimalize prophesy and interpretation in the church today.

Dear Bryan,
Thanks for excellent sharing on the article. There is something i would like to point-out is that spirituality is beyond emotional or experiencing about God. There is also the spiritual-values of beliefs we hold-on to example the Pentecostal spiritual-heritage. Thee, I would like to ask; what than is the spiritual-values you think we might compromised in our generation today?

Following up on Victor's Cpomment and Freddies question, do you think we can be too myopic if we were to keep wanting to go back to our roots? do we blindside ourselves and prevent us from growing meaningfully?

Hi Bryan,

Are you directing your article to pentecostalism in Malaysia or does it apply to pentecostalism all over the world?

Hi Bryan,
Wah! Really thoroughly well thought on your article.
Well, for me as a future pentecostal pastor, would you advice me that as long we centralize everything on God, our pentecostal heritage will thrive our church back again its position as a healthy church? If yes, then don't you
think that what about other non Pentecostals pastors who manage to centralize everything on God, which makes us Pentecostal no difference from them? (this question popped in my mind - hope you can crystallize it for me:) thanks

sorry for taking such a long time to reply. and thanks for your comments. they are all appreciated.

Victor, I do agree with you that defining by one author alone is kinda myopic. But the situation did not allow me to delve into much research. But thanks for offering your two cents. Would check those books out. But just to add on regarding going back to our origins (as asked also by Lionel), I would wanna clarify that going back to the heart of the matter. I have always believed that the Word of God and God Himself should and must be the center of our faith. Our worship, our lifestyle, should be all about Him and thus, the Word of God is inevidently vital. By saying going back to the origin, it was never my intention to go back to the Azusa Revival or even the Topeka Revival but rather we must recognise the crux and center of our faith, God Himself. I believe that this trend of straying away from this crux is not only a national problem but I believe it is across the borders as well (Thanks Jase!). The economical situation, the individualistic and materialistic nature of human beings (regardless of age) make mankind so busy that church becomes a routine rather than a place of God. God has been taken out from the picture, which is sad. People don't even have time to read the Word of God. When I say go back to the origins, it brings the connotation that we have to return to the crux of our faith. Yes, there are many distinctions that make us differ as Pentecostals but if God is placed at an inferior position, wouldn't all this distinction count as nothing? For me, no matter you are charismatic or Pentecostal or even say Presbyterian spirituality, as long as God is out of the picture, we have totally lost everything we hold on to. Sorry if I conveyed the wrong connotation. I do agree that over time, the way things are run may evolve but, again, my intention of going back to the origin is going back to God Himself in everything that we do. This, then, makes His Word a vital part of our spiritual walk then. I think this pretty much answers most of the questions above.

Even for Charity's question. If one prophesies for his / her own personal agenda, then, it is totally wrong. Again, the thing is, it has to return to God. God sternly warns against false prophets in the Bible but the fact of the matter is that it still happens. People still prophesy for their own personal agenda, saying that it is word from the Lord when often times it is not. But I would think that we shouldn't, on this basis alone, be a hinderance to what God wants to do. For all we may know, God gives a prophecy to someone but he / she is not allowed to prophecy due to the reason aforementioned. That, I feel, is sad. To hinder what God wants to do.

Kenrick: Urm.. I am not worthy to be giving advice to you regarding being a future pentecostal pastor. But since the question was thrown, I would try to answer it to the best of my ability. We should hold on to what differentiates us from the rest; that differentiates us as Pentecostals. But at the same time, we should take care not to lose sight that at the end of the day, it is not about us but it is about God and God only. In other words, not forgetting God yet holding on to that which differentiates us as Pentecostals.

Again, these are but only my views.

Hi Bryan, a pretty good perspective about our worship today... What is your take on people who think that the time of worship is a transition time to enable late comers to arrive in time to receive the preaching of God's Word? This bunch think that only hearing the Word will suffice on Sundays and usually miss worship most of the time.

regarding the youth generation. Do you think that is easier to get them revived in this Pentecostal aspect or harder? Is your Bible College studies sufficient to bring a revival among YOUTHS

Hi Bryan,
I am still waiting for your reply. I agree with your article that Pentecostal spirituality boils down to individual expereince and God is the ultimate focus of the movement. Afterall, the Holy Spirit's main works is to reveal and glorify Christ or God himself. Anyway maybe i put it a bit more specific. As a youth yourself, why do you think that young people today seldom includes certain gifts of the Spirit in their worship besides dancing, clapping, shouting etc; gifts like prophecy or interpretation of prophecy; or even speaking in tongues? Is it becuase of concern of being branded too emotional or fake?

Hi Freddie,

I thought I did respond in my previous reply. But anyway, sorry if I didn't respond. In regards to your latter question, my personal take on that is their innocence. Speaking in tongues is evident in some of their worship though very scarce due to their upbringing in church. Many times, they emulate the values they pick up from the church. If the church does not practice speaking in tongues during a worship service then they wont. Regarding prophecy and all, it is their innocence. If they don't have the gift, they won't use it on stage. I don't think they wil give fake prophecies to destroy a person. This is their innocence. Even if they get one, they might have the mentality that they are still young or they might still be unsure of what's going on and so, they keep it to themselves thinking that it might be their own thoughts. In fact, in some cases, when a youth receives a prophecy, many will doubt and question him with the excuse that "you are still too young. You can't differentiate between God's voice and your own yet." Again, this is from a perspective and rationale of me as a youth.

Hi Yet Meng,
As for those people, they are in need of a serious paradigm shift. They do not understand the true heart or meaning of worship in the 1st place. God desires worship from His people and we need to teach them that.

Hi Charity,
Hmm... I would think that it will be easier to get them revived if compared to the adults. It boils down to their innocence. Most of the time, what you teach is what they receive. They are WAY easier to mold and shape than compared to adults. It is what they pick up here, the core values, that they will bring with them into adulthood and hold for life. So I would say, due to this innocence and pliability,they are easier to be revived. As a final conclusion, there is a verse in the Bible that reads "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." (Matt 5:8) A pastor once told me that this is a very innocent generation. Keep them pure, lead them in the right path and they shall see God (summary la... not his exact words).

Hi Bryan,
Thanks for your previous comments.
I've been to youth groups which i believe they do have a heart of worship, But when we ask them the reason why they jump(dance)and lift their hands during worship or even shouting and screaming, many surprisingly don't know the reasons for them.Do you think it is necessary to educate them on such matters? If yes, why so?

Hi Bryan...

Wow... I have trully witnessed some great insights and observations on this subject by reading your blog. Great job man!!!

I have a personal question to you. You stated at the begining of your post that spirituality is a new term to us. I'd really like to hear your definition of the word spirituality. What is spirituality to you?

Thank You :)