Mark Allen Quay

Exploring Spiritual Gifts Mark Allen Quay

There are very few subjects that you can talk about in the church that are more controversial than spiritual gifts. At times it seems as though there are as many different views on spiritual gifts as there are churches. Some churches hold that most if not all gifts have ceased with the writing of the last book of the New Testament. This is called the Cessationist view. A variant of this view maintains that only certain "sign gifts" have ceased. On the opposite extreme, many churches not only hold that the gifts are present in the church today, but that the presence of certain gifts (especially the gift of speaking in tongues) in the life of the believer is the only sure sign of the Fullness or the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is called the Pentecostal or Charismatic view. The author sets out a more moderate position which is common in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), though by no means its official position as a whole. The author avoids the excesses of the Cessationists or the Pentecostals/Charismatics.