Luke hastens to add that it's not the preacher's cleverness or the church's orthodoxy or its evangelistic strategies alone which lead people to new life in Christ, but the power (literally 'the hand') of the Lord (11:20). Certainly we need well-educated preachers, theologically and academically - people like Moses, Daniel, Paul. But when the Lord's power invades a fisherman like Simon Peter [or a medieval saint] or a shoe salesman like D L Moody, or a young American who's only done a couple of years in Bible colleges like Billy Graham they can be very effective evangelists indeed. 'Correct' doctrine, homiletically-sound sermons, professional techniques all have their place, but throughout the world the churches that are open to the Lord's power working among them are alive. Churches that have shunned this dimension for a rationalistic faith are declining everywhere.

Introducing his Letters to Young Churches J B Phillips states: 'The great difference between present-day Christianity and that in these letters, is that, to us, it is primarily a performance; to them it was a real experience. We reduce the Christian religion to a code...a rule of heart and life. To these it was quite plainly the invasion of their lives by a new qualtiy of life altogether.'

Perhaps you and your church are discouraged: in the face of the world's great needs what can you do? Peter, James, John and the others had a pretty straightforward task: preach the good news to the whole world! How were they to do it? 'When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power' (Acts 1:8). 'Many of us,' wrote Charles G. Finney, 'want the peace Christ offers without the power he has also promised.' 'Come to the Son of Man,' exhorts F B Meyer, so that he may supply that missing link, breathe power into you, baptize you in his sacred fire...' Andrew Murray: 'Take time. Give God time to reveal himself to you...waiting to receive through the Spirit his power.' Preaching on the text 'Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee?' (Ps. 85:6) Billy Graham urged: 'Our greatest need at this moment is a moral and spiritual awakening.'

'It is divine power we want, not better methods' said Hudson Taylor. 'Let us give ourselves to prayer for nothing less than to be filled with the Spirit, and made channels through which he shall work with resistless power'. Australian evangelist John G Ridley said 'God's power does not fall on institutions or denominations; God anoints people whose motives are right, who are free from selfishness and self-seeking.' The great evangelist C.H.Spurgeon thundered: 'It is extraordinary grace, not talent, that wins the day. It is extraordinary spiritual power, not extraordinary mental power, that we need... Mental power may gather a congregation, spiritual power will save souls.'

Sometimes the great evangelists had a dynamic experience of the Holy Spirit. Let D L Moody tell his story: 'One day in New York - oh what a day! - I cannot describe it; I seldom refer to it; it is almost too sacred an experience to name. Paul had an experience of which he never spoke for fourteen years. I can only say that God revealed himself to me, and I had such an experience of his love that I asked him to stay his hand. I went preaching again. The sermons were not different; I did not present any new truths; and yet hundreds were converted.' This same promise is also to us, who are 'afar off' (Acts 2:39).

But now a little note of caution. Yesterday I had lunch with a leader of Australia's fastest-growing denomination - the Assemblies of God. AOG pastors are poorly trained theologically compared with 'mainline' clergy; they are often on their own, battling away in lonely circumstances without much guidance from senior colleagues; and the rate at which these pastors leave pastoral ministry is aweful. But the Lord's power is with many of them, and their churches are seeing more people converted to Christ than any other denomination in our country.

On the other hand, in the last three years I have spoken at half a dozen Anglican clergy conferences. The sophistication of these men (yes, men, but that will change before the second edition of this book!) theologically and liturgically was invigorating for this Baptist: but many of them minister year in and year out without seeing people grow significantly in faith.

Now most AOG pastors can't live with a plateauing or declining congregation: they feel they've failed if their church isn't growing numerically. Hasn't Yonggi Cho said the principles he uses to grow the largest church in the world in Korea are universal - they will work anywhere? On the other hand, Anglican sacramentalism and their concept of 'the cure of souls' enable many of them to do a 'maintenance' ministry for life, and not be bothered by growth or the lack of it. My texts for each group come just four verses apart in Zechariah. Anglicans 'you will succeed, not by might or by your own strength, but by my spirit says the Lord' (4:6). Pentecostals, don't 'despise the day of small things' (4:10). My AOG friends should remember that it's God who 'gives the increase': their task is to be faithful and lead a church into spiritual maturity and health. And my Anglican friends ought to capture again the urgency of reaching the 'lost' with the good news, without necessarily surrendering many of their great traditions.

Growing churches can become conceited, despising others for their lack of evangelistic effectiveness. There is 'pride of place, pride of race, pride in the gifts of nature and even pride in the gifts of the Spirit'. But then the mainline churches despise the lack of sophistication among fundamentalists or pentecostals. We all live in a status jungle, sharing a need for significance with baboons, jackdaws, roosters and swordtail fish! Academic theologians despise the uneducated, and fiery pentecostal preachers despise the 'religiosity' of theologians who are 'dying by degrees'! Pride, says C S Lewis, gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next person. All snobbery is irreligious and unintelligent (James 2:1-13). Mary's Magnificat says the Lord will scatter the proud, bringing down the mighty from their thrones...

Back to the idea of the Lord's power. In the early church, 'Word' and 'Spirit' went hand in hand. In Western Christianity we have tended to be more 'Word' than 'Spirit' (with the exception of the Pentecostals/Charismatics, who may sometimes have an imbalance the other way). Our theology has been very 'cerebral', with little openness to the power of the Holy Spirit. Throughout the world, where 'signs and wonders' accompany the proclamation of the good news the church is dynamic and alive. However the great need for those young churches is Bible teaching - but without losing their enthusiasm. More of that later.

Further Reading: David Watson, One in the Spirit, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1973, and I Believe in the Church, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1978; C. Peter Wagner, How to Have a Healing Ministry Without Making Your Church Sick, Ventura: Regal Books, 1988, and The Third Wave of the Holy Spirit, Ann Arbor: Servant Publications, 1988; Rowland Croucher, 'Charismatic Renewal: Myths and Realities' (on this website).

Discuss the 20 issues there in the article 'Charismatic Renewal'.