Charismatic Church Practices 101 - What Are They Doing?

Upon entering our church doors, (and many others), you may feel like you just entered another world, complete with a new language, both verbally, and non-verbally. You may look around and ask yourself or your spouse, "what did they just say out-loud and why?"  This is a little blog that we could call a charismatic dictionary & participation help guide.   

We believe that church should be fun, expressive, and much like a celebration because we are celebrating the One who has given us life every good thing.  He made us to praise & worship Him.  He likes noise and is not afraid of it.  He likes, hand-clapping, hands lifted in worship, a joyful noise, instruments of praise, dancing, jumping, leaping, shouting, crying, laughing, just about anything else that He made us to enjoy life with.  He made us like Him, in His image and God has emotions.  

Anytime that you see a lot of life, excitement and joy, you will notice there is noise. (like when a baby is born)   When you never hear anything, it usually means death.  Our God is all about life.  

All through The Bible, we see all of these forms of worship and many more such as bowing before Him, speaking in other tongues, voices lifted in unison in prayer, etc.  

Now, for terminology.  The word amen simply means so be it and was used in the Bible to agree with something.  When people agree with what is being taught & preached, they sometimes say amen, & it helps some of us to teach better because we know people are paying attention & excited about the message.  Others may simply say in a more modern affirmation, "Yes, that's good".  We don't even mind an "all-right now, that's good preachin" from time to time. 

You may even hear a spontaneus Hallelujah at times.  I will spare you the Biblical teaching.  This is only a blog, not a Bible study.  Suffice it to say that it came from Hebrew words meaning to Praise The Lord.  In contemporary worship,  the expressions of "Hallelujah" and "Praise the Lord" are acceptable spontaneous expressions of joy, thanksgiving and praise towards God.

Sometimes, what the Bible calls "joy unspeakable and full of glory"  comes upon people so intimately, that they begin to vocalize that joy with laughter.  (laughter is the language of joy in any realm and should not surprise us).  Sometimes they are overcome with tears, at the realization of how much God loves them.  On rare occasions, people have wanted to jump or run around the building.  When people were healed in the Bible, they went leaping and praising God.  It still happens from time to time.  

This may be a surprise to some who have not experienced this type of vocal and demonstrative worship.  No one should expect you to do whatever anyone else does to "fit in".  We don't care if someone sits quietly & observes, joins in because their heart wants to, or does nothing.  We only care that we are allowed to express our gratitude to our Lord freely.  

Come and enjoy.  Worship is contagious.