'Evangelical, Sacramental, Pentecostal.'

Recently I ran into a friend from high school in the grocery store. We caught up with one another and each of us told funny stories about the craziness of life with small children. My friend's face suddenly got serious and said, "You're a pastor, right?" I told him that I was. He said, "My wife and I are really struggling to find a church. But we have no idea what to look for. We don't just want to shop around for what suits us; we want to find a place that knows who they are. What is a church supposed to be?"

I think there are a lot of people who are asking that same question. For those of us in ministry leadership, we are tasked with discerning whether our church is living into its calling. And for those who are seeking an authentic community of faith, they want to belong to a body of believers who have a clear sense of vision and mission. So: what is a church supposed to be?

Gordon D. Smith is a Canadian theologian who serves as the president of Ambrose University and Seminary in Alberta. He recently wrote a helpful book titled "Evangelical, Sacramental, and Pentecostal: Why the Church Should Be All Three."

Some of us might squirm a bit when we see Smith use the word evangelical. By using the word "evangelical," Smith is not referring to the right-wing political movement that has abused the label. Instead, evangelical churches are those that live into what the word really means: "evangelical" comes from the Greek word evangelion or "Good News" (sometimes also transliterated as the word "Gospel"). Churches are not evangelical by merely studying the Bible, but by living it out. As it says in the New Testament letter of James: "Be doers of the Word, and not merely hearers" (James 1:22).

Smith also writes that churches should be sacramental. There is something mysterious and powerful when a church lives into the ancient and holy rhythms that have been a part of the Christian faith for two millennia. The holy practices of our faith, such as Communion or baptism, connect us to a greater history and serve as reminders of who we are as followers of Jesus. In my own life, it is the rhythms of spiritual and liturgical practices that continues to stir up a passion for the Gospel.

Finally, churches should be pentecostal. Smith is not referring to a specific set of denominations when he says this (such as Pentecostalism or Assemblies of God). Instead, he is saying churches should be led by the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-21), the disciples experienced the coming of the Spirit into their life together. And the Book of Acts tells stories of how the early Christians had to re-imagine what it meant to follow Jesus in their world. We today are Pentecostal when we are willing to be moved, challenged, and even changed by the new things God's Spirit may be up to in our world today.

Evangelical. Sacramental. Pentecostal. Most churches emphasize one of these over the others, but there is something profound and life-giving in our striving to live out all three. That is what a church is supposed to be.