Third Current

Excerpts from The Current Move of God: 8 Characteristics by Frank Viola
November - December, 2008 | New Wineskins

...

In this article, however, I’ll be focusing on one particular move of God that has taken place in two different phases, or currents, thus far. Both of these currents have occurred outside the organized church in the West.

The first current occurred in the late 60s and early 70s. By 1979, it had all but died.

The second current began in the late 80s and early 90s.

This brings me to the reason why I’m excited about 2009.

It’s because we are just now beginning to see a third current of God’s move in the United States (and other Western countries) where Christians are leaving the institutional church structure (in record numbers) and discovering the living, breathing, headship of Jesus Christ in an organic, collective way without a clergy.

The landscape is changing rapidly. God is raising up new voices and new expressions of the church which look very different from the traditional expression.

According to my travels, my observations, and my correspondence, eight main features appear to be marking this third current. They are as follows:

1) A genuine revelation and experience of an indwelling Lord. Many Christians are being awakened to the fact that Jesus Christ dwells inside of them, and that He seeks to be everything to them. ...

2) A recapturing of a spiritual vocabulary to reflect a unique experience. Ephesians Chapters 1-3 are littered with a vocabulary that few Christians use today. This vocabulary emanates from a mind. And that mind is characterized by the capacity to see the unseen and to declare as present fact heavenly realities that exist outside the constraints of created time. ...

3) Meeting together for a very high and noble purpose. That purpose is to display the living Christ who indwells the church. The third current is being marked by church gatherings— not as services, not as platforms for sermonizing, not as pastor-led or priest-led orders of worship, not as Bible studies, and not as liturgies— but to make visible a living Christ by His every-member functioning Body where principalities and powers are put to shame. ...

4) An incredible Christ-centeredness in the thinking, life and vocabulary of God’s people. This new current is marked by the centrality of Christ. Jesus Christ is being put in His place. He is being given His rightful position of centrality, supremacy, and preeminence. ...

5) An experience of close-knit community. This is becoming an experience, rather than a buzzword. Believers who know church as community do not think merely as individuals. They do not think in terms of “me” or “I.” Instead, they think and live in terms of “we” and “us.”

To their minds, there is no disconnect between getting saved and being part of the community of believers. This element is a restoration of the New Testament Christian mindset. ...

6) An understanding of the reality of being “in Christ.” Like the early Christians, those in this third current are being pulled loose from a “works” mentality, liberated from a guilt complex, and set free from a sense of religious duty. ...

7) A rediscovery of God’s eternal purpose. It appears that the eternal purpose of God is the governing vision of this third current. I won’t unravel that statement here (as I’ve spoken on it extensively elsewhere), except to say that this is probably one of the most exciting aspects of what’s beginning today, for me at least. ...

8) An inclusive, open spirit to all of God's people. Unlike so many past movements, this third current is marked by an open attitude toward all of God's people. It rejects and even hates an exclusive, sectarian, elitist attitude and posture. ...

...