Having grown up in a Protestant tradition that believed spiritual gifts such as healing and prophecy had ceased, I developed a skepticism towards all things labeled Pentecostal or Charismatic. 

I’d say ​“healthy skepticism,” except it wasn’t healthy. It was rooted in fear.

Not the fear of God Scripture commends, but a fear of the ​“other” and a fear of emotionalism (or simply of emotions). There also was a fear of being wrong, especially of being wrong about theology, which when excavated revealed a deeper fear of being abandoned or rejected by God.

Eventually this head-dweller sensed the Holy Spirit’s invitation to move past these fears and learn to worship God with strength and body in addition to mind and heart. So I plunged — or rather tentatively waded, at least at first — into the Charismatic Stream by attending churches and conferences outside my comfort zone.

It is easy to judge people from afar. Once you move toward the ​“other,” you may be surprised, as I was, at how much they have to teach you and at how God is willing to work through imperfect but expectant vessels. 

(Chris Webb recalls his story of moving from suspicion to surprise when years ago he attended a Vineyard gathering.)

But what about ​“charismania”? There is certainly some strange stuff out there that, as a friend says, ​“ain’t the Lord.” Fabrications and abuses can be formidable obstacles to thoughtful people opening themselves to God’s power. 

In a new podcast interview about the Charismatic Tradition, Richard Foster reminds us that abuses existed even in the early church. He encourages us not to say ​“phooey on it all” but rather to heed Saint Paul’s advice: ​“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good” (1 Thes 5:19 – 21).

The end goal of spiritual gifts is love, unity, community, and being formed into the image of Jesus as we do the things He did in the way He did them.

May you step out without (or in spite of) fear,