Words make a difference. Words like “holiness,” “pentecostal,” and “charismatic” have sometimes been fighting words. But they can also serve as bridges to broader understanding.

     The word “charismatic” serves the contemporary Charismatic Movement as “holiness” did John Wesley’s most lively descendants in the nineteenth century. Key words and concepts like these embody the organizing center of a movement. Because of this, “charismatic”— like “holiness” and “pentecostal”—quickly becomes a slippery word, meaning different things to different people. Like so many terms with a biblical base, however, it is too good a word to be abandoned because of differing meanings and connotations. In banning the word we may also close the door to important truth or restrict the free flow of the Holy Spirit among us.

     Anyone who feels that the word “charismatic” is too tainted or loaded to be useful today might consider such biblical terms as “presbyterian,” “episcopal,” “baptist,” and “ecumenical.” Like “charismatic,” these words come directly from New Testament Greek. Their modern English connotations don’t warrant dropping such words from our vocabulary. Rather, we should rediscover and reaffirm their true biblical significance. We should watch for meanings we may be missing.

     It is fully appropriate, therefore, for Wesleyans to have dialogue with Charismatic Christianity. By “Charismatic Christianity” we mean primarily the contemporary Charismatic Movement in its various forms and secondarily its Pentecostal antecedents. Despite the increasing awareness of common Charismatic, Pentecostal, and Holiness roots in the Wesleyan Revival, to date little dialogue has developed between contemporary Wesleyans and Charismatics. Such dialogue is needed today.

     In this book we hope to show that Wesleyans have both something to learn from and something to say to contemporary Charismatics. We also want to recognize that God is using the Charismatic Movement today. To recognize this is a thoroughly Wesleyan attitude.

     How does a Wesleyan dialogue with Charismatic Christianity? Rather than comparing our theology or practice point by point, we have chosen to address the central question that Charismatic Christianity raises for us: In what sense is Christian experience, or the church, charismatic? If the Charismatic Movement raises valid biblical questions for us—and it does—then it is more important to deal with those questions than merely to catalog the pluses or minuses of the movement.

     First we must investigate the question of the charismatic nature of the church. Then we will ask whether Wesleyanism is a charismatic movement, examining Wesley’s theology and the Methodist and Holiness movements in the light of Scripture. Finally we will comment on Wesleyan and Charismatic Christianity today and offer some suggestions in the direction of a biblical Wesleyan ecclesiology—since the charismatic emphasis inevitably raises the question of church structure and practice.

     While this book is not primarily an historical study, we have supplied enough historical perspective (we trust) to make our theological and practical analyses intelligible.

     In John 17 Jesus prayed that the church might be one so that the world would know him. This prayer excludes neither Wesleyan nor Charismatic believers. It is our conviction that Jesus was more concerned about the unity of the church than most Christians are today. Our hope is that this book may lead to greater unity among believers, thereby advancing the cause of Christ, the church, and the kingdom.
    

Howard A. Snyder
Chicago, Illinois

Daniel V. Runyon
Spring Arbor, Michigan