'Third Wave' Report Sent to Churches

A Christian Reformed Church committee has completed a study of the Third Wave Pentecostalism movement and sent its reports to pastors and church councils for study and reflection.

The reports, which include both a majority and a minority report, try to define the popular movement and give a sense of why it has become so interesting to people of faith. They examine and draw scriptural, confessional and theological connections between the teachings of the Third Wave and the CRC.

They are available for download from the Synodical Resources page of the CRC website (www.crcna.org/pages/synodical.cfm). The reports will also be included in the printed Agenda for Synod 2009 where they are scheduled to be considered.

“The reports (majority and minority) of the Committee to Study Third Wave Pentecostalism II are being sent to CRC congregations and classes for review,” CRC Executive Director Rev. Jerry Dykstra says in an introduction to the reports. “All responses to these reports must be in the form of an Overture or Communication to Synod 2009. Such documents must be processed through a church council and classis before they are received by synod.”

After studying and reviewing the reports, a church council that wants to respond should contact its classis. Overtures or communications must be received at the CRC's synodical services office by Mar. 15, 2009 to be included in the printed Agenda for Synod.

In its study of the growing Third Wave movement, members of the majority report write: "The point is not that the Third Wave is entirely free from poor interpretative practices in its dealing with the Bible. It is not. The point is, rather, that it is not exclusively, or even predominantly, characterized by such practices."

The report also goes on to say: "The Third Wave tends to be predominately an evangelical phenomenon that has not, by and large, fostered disruption in church communities but has encouraged renewal and spiritual vitality."

The current, Third Wave study committee was set up by Synod 2007 after delegates to that synod agreed with their advisory committee's request that the CRC "must go further in grounding its recommendations biblically, confessionally, and theologically so that it (the report) can become a more useful pastoral tool."

The issue of Third Wave Pentecostalism was first addressed by the synod of 1973. The new study and discussion, which was requested by Synod 2004, was prompted by the growing influence of and interest in the movement.

"While the term 'third wave' is used to describe a largely North American evangelical experience, the movement is part of a bigger, broader, global neo-charismatic movement that includes Christians who have received Penetecostal-like experiences, yet claim no association either with the Pentecostal or charismatic movements," says the 2008 report.

Some of the aspects of this Holy Spirit-inspired movement include prophesy, prayer, healing ministries, spiritual warfare and deliverance.

A survey trying to get a sense of what members of the CRC think of the movement is also included in the current report.

The minority report is more critical of the Third Wave movement and suggests a few changes in the majority report.

In the minority report, Rev. Timothy J. Brown writes: "Third Wave books often include a chapter on worldviews, in which warnings are given against a rationalistic, naturalistic Western worldview… we must beware lest we fall into a spiritistic, animistic worldview in which evil spirits are everywhere, curses have power, and the correct techniques must be used in combating them."

"These are important reports considering the times in which we now live. We trust the Lord's blessing will rest on your deliberations," Dykstra said in a memo to church councils.