Balance

There are certain churches that really strive for balance.  Some of them do a great job at it, others don't.  I'm not going to attack any specific church.

Balance is something we should have in church.  I think wanting balance is definitely a plus.  But when going about achieving balance in the wrong way, it could be negative.

There are certain preachers I have heard on Christian radio that speak heavily about how church should be balanced.  And they are right.  However, what they try to do to acheive that balance is to be in the middle.  A lot of people call this "the radical middle".  But when you're in this radical middle, you tend to miss out on a lot of great things God is doing.  In fact, some in this radical middle will speak out against stuff going on at Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship, Bethel Church in Redding, CA, International House of Prayer in Kansas City, etc.

Have you ever seen a person balancing on a beam or a tightrope?  What do they do to acheive that balance? They will either stick their arms out to both sides, or hold a pole horizontally.  They're reaching out to both sides. 

If we, as Christians, choose to take in what's good from other Christians, charismatic or not, I think we can live a more balanced life as Christians, and have a more balanced church.  There was a lot of good stuff people missed out on in the Toronto Blessings that a lot of people missed out on, because they thought being balanced meant staying in the middle.  However, as we see from a tightrope walker, that is not the case at all.  You need to reach out to get stuff from both the most charismatic and the most non-charismatic.  You need to reach out to both sides to get what's good from both those that are more Calvanist as well as those that are more Arminian.  If the tightrope walker were to put their arms and hands close to their body, and not reach out to the sides, they would fall of the rope to one side or the other.

There's a lot of good stuff I get from Bethel, Toronto, IHOP and other pentecostal/charismatic ministries.  However, I also find a lot of good stuff from Calvary Chapel (some of who are more charismatic than others), Southern Baptist ministries, Lutheran, Presbyterian, etc.

Even in the charismatic movement, you find differences.  One example is the difference between Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship and International House of Prayer (IHOP).  One is way more into the father's heart teaching, doesn't focus so much on the end times and stuff like that, etc etc.  The other, while they have some of the father's love teaching, they focus more on the end times, holiness, etc etc.  This isn't to say that either ministry is missing one or the other, they have both, but the focus is a little bit different at each of them.  We need both.  A lot of people tell me I'm part of the first stream I mentioned, the Toronto stream.  However, we need the IHOP stream just as much as the Toronto stream, and I recognize that.  No one stream is more important than the other.  I believe we're in a time where God is merging the streams as one river.  Bethel started out in the Toronto stream, but I see the IHOP stream being merged with it, and there's a lot of stuff from IHOP I like too.  And as others learn what true balance is, I think other streams, even denominations, will merge with it. 

So I encourage you, when you think about balance, don't think so much about trying to be in the middle.  Think more like the tightrope or balance beam walker who has to reach out to both sides to stay balanced.  It works in the natural.  It'll work in the spiritual too.

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