Charismatic Movement

Every Harvest Bible Chapel is a conservative-evangelical body that welcomes all who know Jesus Christ as their Savior and all who are seeking Him. All Christ-followers are welcome to worship and fellowship with us as together and we ask all who do to seek to preserve the unity of the Body of Christ within our church. We have not adopted the terms "charismatic" nor "cessationist" to reflect our understanding of the Biblical position on the use of spiritual gifts in the body. We believe that these terms and the movements they represent often tend to emphasize unbiblical extremes that are at odds with our understanding of what the Scriptures teach.

We believe that the Christian life is supernatural and that the Lord continues to perform miracles and equip believers with the spiritual gifts for His Glory. We believe that the public use of the often-labled "sign gifts" (such as the gift of tongues) may still be in operation in some parts of our world as God reaches new people groups and/or in places where missionaries touch those of another culture. We believe the gift of tongues:

• as described in the New Testament is only one of many spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12) and is not given to all believers nor is it a proof of being Spirit-filled or of possessing salvation in Christ;
• is not the primary manifestation of the Spirit's work in a person's life, but rather the Spirit's work in producing a holy life is (2 Corinthians 3:17-18; 2 Timothy 1:9) as well as the displays the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22);

Some Harvest members and/or adherents may experience a personal, individual prayer interaction involving the gift of tongues but the expression of tongues and other sign gifts are not to be overtly expressed at meetings that are under the organization and authority of Harvest Bible Chapel out of courtesy for the various beliefs and positions of other Harvest people.