The Union of Charismatic Orthodox Churches

Abstract

Every first Sunday of the month, the service at the Cathedral at the Gathering Place (CGP) a non-denominational, neo-Pentecostal church, opens with a word of prayer followed by an incense-filled procession of the church’s clergy and acolytes fully vested in their proper order, carrying the various items usually included in a Eucharistic processional (candles, cross, Gospel Book, etc.). As they process into the sanctuary, the congregation stands and many, with arms raised, begin to sing along with the worship team which has begun the contemporary worship song designated for this portion of the service. Once at the altar, the bishop censes the altar and the people; afterwards a collect is read followed by the proclamation of Psalm 51:15 (“Lord open my lips”). The praise and worship segment of the service, including a full band, is structured with the assigned lessons from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer (BCP) interspersed between the praise and worship songs. After the readings, the Gospel book is processed into the middle of the sanctuary and the Gospel for that Sunday is read among the people by a deacon after it has been blessed and incensed by the bishop. Afterwards, the preaching or proclamation of the Word takes place with the kind of homiletical esthetic, zeal, and charisma found in most Pentecostal or Baptist churches. Immediately following the preached word, an altar call invites congregants who desire a word of wisdom, prophesy or prayer to come to the front of sanctuary where both clergy and laity who are trained in matters of pastoral payer welcome them with open arms. The service then comes to what the celebrant proclaims is “the center of all things,” the celebration of the Eucharist. Unlike many Pentecostal or evangelical churches that emphasize the memorial aspect of communion, the Gathering Place believes in the real presence of Christ. Given Pentecostalism’s continued growth as a global movement, it was only a matter of time before segments of Pentecostalism such as The Gathering Place encountered and developed for itself a liturgical and sacramental spirituality akin to the canonical churches (Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox, etc.). In the last fifty years several evangelical and Charismatic segments have embraced a more liturgical and sacramental spirituality, leading to the development of groups identified as either “Three Stream,” “Convergence,” or “Ancient-Future.” For Pentecostals recovering orthodoxy, these expressions many times lack the essential theological, spiritual, or even cultural tensions, which recovering the Great Tradition from a solely Pentecostal framework could provide. 1 For example, the antecedent expressions, unlike Pentecostalism, historically did not include women or people of color in ministry.