There’s an often-told story of a man from a Pentecostal background visiting a Reformed Church.   Part-way into the preacher’s sermon the man said a heartfelt, “Praise the Lord”.   A man sitting in front of him turned around and said, “Shush!   We don’t do that here!”

Over the years I’ve often seen newcomers struggling with our more sober style of worship.   I’m glad that those days are gone where we tell someone off for raising their hands during a praise song.   I certainly hope we wouldn’t turn around anymore to rebuke a visitor who expresses a sincere and enthusiastic “Hallelujah!” over some point made by the preacher in his sermon.   However the fact remains that in general we – the spiritual descendants of Uncle John Calvin – express our spirituality a little differently to many modern evangelical Christians.   We certainly express our spirituality a little differently to our Pentecostal friends.

That has created some plusses for us as well as some minuses.

On the plus side, there are those who warm to our somewhat more rational approach to the faith.   Some people have come to us from churches where the more exuberant expression of the faith has degenerated into the “froth and bubbles” of hyped up emotionalism.   Some have come to us breathing a sigh of relief that at last they found a place to worship where the quiet air of reverence before Almighty God dominated.   These folk spoke of feeling that in their previous church they were beginning to put on a charade to fit in with the upbeat way that the Christian life was expected to be lived.

On the minus side, there are those who come to us, puzzled by our seeming inability to get excited about our faith and by the apparent passivity of the worshippers in our Sunday gatherings.   There are those who have come to us who even question the genuineness of the faith of our members because they don’t see the same enthusiasm that they are used to seeing elsewhere.   Some have come and stayed a while and then moved on again – perhaps even with the comment that in Reformed Churches it’s all rather boring and predictable.   They miss seeing the passion for the faith that they see elsewhere.

I am saddened by the fact that too often there is more than a grain of truth in these negative perceptions that some newcomers have of us.   It is pathetic – to say the least – that some of us can get really fired up about some Olympic event, or the Super-Eight car races but we cannot converse with others about the greatest event in history: the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.   We go through the routine of Sunday worship services (when we have the inclination!) but there is little evidence of the joy of the Lord in our life.

At the same time I realise that much criticism of spiritual coldness on the part of our people is grossly unfair.   I’ve often watched as some dear saint wipes a tear from his eye as some part of the sermon particularly touches his life.   I’ve often seen some worshipper stop singing in the middle of a song because her emotions have got the better of her.   I would even like to argue the case that often the deep-seated, but more rational spirituality that is grounded in the Word is better able to cope with the struggles of life than the enthusiastic and emotional spirituality of many Pentecostal believers.

However, at the end of the day we all need to remember two things.   First, that God made all of us different.   Some of us live our spiritual life at a much more emotional level while others are much more rational about their spirituality.   Second, no one is drawn to the Lord by lukewarm religiosity but passionate spirituality will always draw others to the Saviour.

John Westendorp