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Word and Spirit

Skiing in the Spirit?

WORD AND SPIRIT
The vital partnership in Christian leadership
By Will Donaldson
CPAS/BRF. 184 pages. £8.99
ISBN 978 1 841 018 256

For a brief book, this is a volume with lofty aims: a ‘desire to see unity in the evangelical movement…’, to allow ‘Word and Spirit to address the challenges and opportunities of postmodernism’ and for theological colleges to ‘weld together Word and Spirit in the minds and hearts of future church leaders’ (p.25). As such, it must be measured on how well it meets those aims.

Will Donaldson is an Anglican theological college staff member who has experienced many of the different evangelical ‘tribes’ when it comes to issues of Word and Spirit. He is both Wimber and Stott, Lucas and New Wine. That could make him confused about Word and Spirit, but, to his credit, he explains clearly what he thinks.

The trouble is, I’m not sure he’s right. The book starts with an unhelpful illustration from skiing. On a school trip, Will recollects how he was told to keep both skis in perfect balance — that was the key. So it is with Word and Spirit, he says — and his book tries to diligently work out that balance in practical issues (preaching, vision-casting, working in teams, prayer, pastoral care, evangelism).

There is a lot of helpful wisdom along the way. However, fundamentally, the thinking is flawed. The Word and Spirit are surely not to be kept in balance; that kind of talk is all wrong. The Spirit is almighty God himself! If the sporting illustration is to stand it needs to be amended — the skier is the Spirit and the skis are the Word. We should no more talk of ‘less of the Word and more of the Spirit’ (or vice versa) than we would say ‘less of the skier, more of the skis’.

It’s difficult not to like much of Will’s book. He writes winsomely and engagingly with some incredibly useful instruction. But I struggled with this fundamental confusion of category and therefore, for me, his book did not fulfil its highly laudable aims.

Adrian Reynolds,
Director of Ministry, The Proclamation Trust, and honorary associate minister, East London Tabernacle Baptist Church