What About a Spirit Reformation
What About a Spirit Reformation
The issue
In 2025, Toowoomba ministers asked themselves: “What is the greatest need for churches across the denominational spectrum?” Our answer was “reformation”, more precisely, a reformation which would restore the Holy Spirit to the teaching foundations of the Christian faith.
At a lunchtime meeting in March of the same year, one of our longest-serving ministers of one of the largest churches admitted that his own faith experience left him feeling “underwhelmed” with God, which was a feeling shared by others in their church, and that he had only recently become more open to the Holy Spirit. He offered this quote from a newly published book:
Taylor Staton:[1] Jesus’ actual words were, “But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7) So according to Jesus – and he’s remarkably clear about this – the Holy Spirit is a staggering improvement to a direct, face-to-face conversation with God in the flesh. God’s indwelling presence through the Holy Spirit surpasses God’s bodily, human presence through Jesus. That’s what he said.
The most interesting part of that, at least to me, is this: We don’t buy it…
Regardless of maturity, commitment, gifting, education, or tradition, most of the people dotting pews across the globe on any given Sunday are a bit underwhelmed with the experience of the very promise that got Jesus so excited.
[2]Many believers look at their lives with the honest, sober admission, “If this life, the one I’m experiencing right now, is everything the resurrection made possible, I’m underwhelmed.” There is a troubling gap between biblical promise and the actual life of the modern disciple…
Widely respected evangelist Billy Graham once said, “Everywhere I go, I find that God’s people lack something. They are hungry for something… The desperate need of the nation today is that men and women who profess Jesus be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Billy Graham, who traveled the globe, seeing the church in every variety and form, concluded that the church is missing the Holy Spirit, longing for the Holy Spirit, needing the Holy Spirit.
In my own church experience, both in Germany and Australia, among mainline congregations at least, the challenge was that traditions were strong, intellectual and academic pursuits were strong, but there was a deficit of Christian experience, a deficit of actual encounters with God and a living relationship with him, which weakened churches and made them less interesting to those that were looking for spirituality.
Under the influence of last century’s dominant worldviews of rationalism and materialism, some theologians have even argued against the possibility of Christian experience.
Rudolph Bultmann:[3] It is impossible to use electric light and the wireless and to avail ourselves of modern medical and surgical discoveries, and at the same time believe in the New Testament world of spirits and miracles…. [This is] unintelligible and unacceptable to the modern world.
There have been church streams that have placed greater emphasis on Christian experience, namely the charismatic and Pentecostal church movements, but they have not been free of controversy, a source of ongoing conversations, and even they know about the danger of losing the experience of God.
At the heart of the problem is a loss of the person of the Holy Spirit and his power in the Christian life. Paul could write to one of his congregations that he ministered to them not only in words but also with the power of the Holy Spirit, which came with tangible experiences for them, full faith conviction and joy given by the Holy Spirit amid severe suffering.
1 Thessalonians 1:5-6: …the Good News came to you not only in words but also with power, namely, with the Holy Spirit and full conviction… You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.
At a citywide worship service in April 2025, I shared how the neglect of the person and power of the Holy Spirit shaped my upbringing in the church and led to misconceptions about saving faith, spiritual gifts, mission work, and unclean spirits. I remarked that, even as an ordained minister, I had not been well spiritually, and it would have been fair to say that my need was not for faith renewal but a thorough reformation of my relationship with God.[4]
My need for reformation, more precisely, a Spirit reformation, was great. Christians “live by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25), but my understanding of the Christian life was full of misconceptions because I did not know (enough) about him. Here is a more complete list of what I misunderstood. (I first state the teaching positively, followed by my misconception.)[5]
Saving faith – Saving faith requires placing our trust in Jesus Christ to enter into a living, experienced relationship with the Trinity. It includes the experience of being “born again” (John 3:3), being “born of the Spirit” (John 3:6), and belonging to God, whereby “the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (Romans 8:16).
Saving faith is more than intellectual assent, the mind agreeing with the Good News of Jesus Christ as a general truth.
Prayer – Prayer is a two-way conversation with God, in which God also speaks through the Holy Spirit, and we listen – “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26).
Worship – Regardless of form and ritual, worship is an intensifying experience of God, in which the Holy Spirit draws us into greater intimacy with him. In worship, the Holy Spirit takes us – to use the language of the ancient worship tent in the Bible that was “a copy and a shadow of the real one in heaven” (Hebrews 8:5) – from the “Outer Court” to the “Holy Place” and finally to the “Most Holy Place” of God’s presence.
Following a prescribed ritual, word formula, or method in worship (without following the lead of the Holy Spirit) does not grant immediate and automatic access to God, at least not his fullness.
Jesus Christ – Jesus ministered on earth as the Christ, the Messiah, the one anointed and filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus demonstrated to his disciples what it means to live by the Spirit, in the Spirit’s power, and encouraged them to do the same – “… how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.” (Acts 10:38) | “Then John gave this testimony: ‘I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptise with water told me, The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptise with the Holy Spirit’” (John 1:32-33) | See also Luke 4:14-21.
Jesus did not live his life on earth by the power of his divinity, using native supernatural powers like an alien Superman.
Infilling with the Holy Spirit – Baptized Christians need to seek repeated and continual infilling with the Holy Spirit. Believers can “quench” (1 Thessalonians 5:19) and “grieve” (Ephesians 4:30) the Holy Spirit (through sin and disobedience), but the goal is to remain filled with the Spirit – “Stop getting drunk with wine, which leads to wild living, but keep on being filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18) | See also Acts 4:31.
Christians are not automatically in a state of being filled with the Holy Spirit on account of their conversion or baptism.
Spiritual gifts – God grants and operates through gifts given by the Holy Spirit. Spiritual gifts include speaking in tongues, prophecy, healing gifts, and miracles. These gifts are to be desired, although not every gift may be given to all believers – “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7).
It is not an option to be sceptical and ignorant about spiritual gifts, because God operates through them and wants everyone to desire them – 1 Corinthians 14:1: “Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy.” | 1 Corinthians 14:39: “Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.”
Mission work – For conversions to happen, many people need to hear the Good News, witness the power of the Holy Spirit in action, and see Christians working for the coming of God’s kingdom on earth – “Our Good News came to you not only in words but also with power, namely, with the Holy Spirit and full conviction…You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 1:5-6) | See also 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; Romans 15:18-20.
By itself, a sound exposition of the Word of God in the Bible does not lead to conversions – “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures…. You are witnesses… but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:45-49).
Expelling unclean spirits – Ministering in the power of the Holy Spirit leads to a confrontation with the devil and the powers of darkness – “… I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me” (Acts 26:17-18) | “As you go, proclaim this message: “The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal those who are ill, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give” (Matthew 10:7-8) | See also Ephesians 6:10-12.
We need more than little to no experience in dealing with unclean spirits.
Discipleship – Discipleship means learning a life of obedience to Jesus, which is only possible through the power of the Holy Spirit – “For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.” (Romans 8:13) | See also Ephesians 2:8-10; Romans 1:1-5; Titus 2:11-14; Romans 8:3-4.
We cannot be relaxed or resigned to failing in our attempts at discipleship and learning to obey Jesus.
Christian unity – Believers are one, belonging to one another before agreeing on everything. Believers are “all children of God through faith” (Galatians 3:26), and belong to one another in a “unity of the Spirit” (Ephesians 4:13). Believers are to build each other up “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). | See also Colossians 2:2.
The above list is long and embarrassing, especially for an ordained church minister. I should have known better. But my need for reformation resonated with other ministers and resembles many other clergy and churches. In Toowoomba, a core group of ministers agreed, the time is right to put church reformation on the agenda, a Spirit reformation, which attempts to recapture core teachings of the Christian faith by pointing out especially, in addition to the roles of the Father and the Son, the role and workings of the Spirit in all of them – saving faith, prayer, worship, Jesus the Christ, infilling with the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, mission work, discipleship, Christian unity, and more. The goal would be for churches everywhere, like Paul, to minister not only in words but also with the power of the Holy Spirit, which brings tangible experiences of God, not least faith conviction and joy given by the Holy Spirit.
Church reformation, rediscovering what it means to “live by the Spirit”, will help in an age of church decline and also position churches to take advantage of a new interest in spirituality and encountering God. Judging by the number of growing congregations among us, God is moving people to search for him, and we want to be ready with words, the Good News of Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit.
There is nothing underwhelming about God, and our churches will be places where everyone can discover that. How would you feel about joining something of a grassroots movement, a Spirit reformation groundswell?
Blessings and love, Edgar Mayer with
Living Grace Church, Toowoomba.
Mission Statement: Spirit Reformation, a grassroots movement, seeks to rebuild the church by restoring the Holy Spirit to the teaching foundations of the Christian faith.
Join at https://www.change.org/SpiritReformation.
Resources: There are many helpful books to read, such as Surprised by the Power of the Holy Spirit and Surprised by the Voice of God by Jack Deere, When Heaven Invades Earth by Bill Johnson, and The Familiar Stranger by Tyler Staton. The renowned Alpha Course includes the Holy Spirit Weekend, which focuses on teaching and experiencing God in a personal way through the Holy Spirit.
Then, I have written a practical (extensive) Christian Life Course with the intent of restoring the Holy Spirit to the teaching foundations of the Christian faith. The course is available in ten teaching manuals containing three lessons each. The lessons are easy to understand, flexible in use, and full of testimonies from the Bible and church history. The course is a free resource available on request (contact edgarmayer.au@gmail.com).
This petition is also available: here.
[1] Staton, Tyler: The Familiar Stranger, London: Hodder Faith 2025.
[2] Staton, Tyler: The Familiar Stranger.
[3] Hans-Werner Bartsch, ed., Reginald Fuller, trans., Kerygma and Myth—A Theological Debate (London, 1972), 5.
[4] See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIyVwwXFyLc
[5] Comment: Ten possible misconceptions are listed and addressed briefly, without going into doctrinal details, leaving room for different ministers and churches to spell out various teachings differently. For instance, prayer is a two-way conversation, but no “theology of prayer” is being developed. We need refillings with the Holy Spirit because we can “quench” (1 Thessalonians 5:19) and “grieve” him (Ephesians 4:30), but there is no push to prescribe how fresh infillings may work or be understood. In this document and generally, the aim is to keep core teachings brief and minimalist, while still indicating what may need to shift in people’s understanding. By God’s grace, this will be non-controversial in most contexts.
It is true that not all ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit has been gentle and helpful. People have hurt people. There is a need for shared discernment, repentance, loving one-another, overcoming fear, and healing, all undergirded by grace and truth.
17
The issue
In 2025, Toowoomba ministers asked themselves: “What is the greatest need for churches across the denominational spectrum?” Our answer was “reformation”, more precisely, a reformation which would restore the Holy Spirit to the teaching foundations of the Christian faith.
At a lunchtime meeting in March of the same year, one of our longest-serving ministers of one of the largest churches admitted that his own faith experience left him feeling “underwhelmed” with God, which was a feeling shared by others in their church, and that he had only recently become more open to the Holy Spirit. He offered this quote from a newly published book:
Taylor Staton:[1] Jesus’ actual words were, “But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7) So according to Jesus – and he’s remarkably clear about this – the Holy Spirit is a staggering improvement to a direct, face-to-face conversation with God in the flesh. God’s indwelling presence through the Holy Spirit surpasses God’s bodily, human presence through Jesus. That’s what he said.
The most interesting part of that, at least to me, is this: We don’t buy it…
Regardless of maturity, commitment, gifting, education, or tradition, most of the people dotting pews across the globe on any given Sunday are a bit underwhelmed with the experience of the very promise that got Jesus so excited.
[2]Many believers look at their lives with the honest, sober admission, “If this life, the one I’m experiencing right now, is everything the resurrection made possible, I’m underwhelmed.” There is a troubling gap between biblical promise and the actual life of the modern disciple…
Widely respected evangelist Billy Graham once said, “Everywhere I go, I find that God’s people lack something. They are hungry for something… The desperate need of the nation today is that men and women who profess Jesus be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Billy Graham, who traveled the globe, seeing the church in every variety and form, concluded that the church is missing the Holy Spirit, longing for the Holy Spirit, needing the Holy Spirit.
In my own church experience, both in Germany and Australia, among mainline congregations at least, the challenge was that traditions were strong, intellectual and academic pursuits were strong, but there was a deficit of Christian experience, a deficit of actual encounters with God and a living relationship with him, which weakened churches and made them less interesting to those that were looking for spirituality.
Under the influence of last century’s dominant worldviews of rationalism and materialism, some theologians have even argued against the possibility of Christian experience.
Rudolph Bultmann:[3] It is impossible to use electric light and the wireless and to avail ourselves of modern medical and surgical discoveries, and at the same time believe in the New Testament world of spirits and miracles…. [This is] unintelligible and unacceptable to the modern world.
There have been church streams that have placed greater emphasis on Christian experience, namely the charismatic and Pentecostal church movements, but they have not been free of controversy, a source of ongoing conversations, and even they know about the danger of losing the experience of God.
At the heart of the problem is a loss of the person of the Holy Spirit and his power in the Christian life. Paul could write to one of his congregations that he ministered to them not only in words but also with the power of the Holy Spirit, which came with tangible experiences for them, full faith conviction and joy given by the Holy Spirit amid severe suffering.
1 Thessalonians 1:5-6: …the Good News came to you not only in words but also with power, namely, with the Holy Spirit and full conviction… You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.
At a citywide worship service in April 2025, I shared how the neglect of the person and power of the Holy Spirit shaped my upbringing in the church and led to misconceptions about saving faith, spiritual gifts, mission work, and unclean spirits. I remarked that, even as an ordained minister, I had not been well spiritually, and it would have been fair to say that my need was not for faith renewal but a thorough reformation of my relationship with God.[4]
My need for reformation, more precisely, a Spirit reformation, was great. Christians “live by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25), but my understanding of the Christian life was full of misconceptions because I did not know (enough) about him. Here is a more complete list of what I misunderstood. (I first state the teaching positively, followed by my misconception.)[5]
Saving faith – Saving faith requires placing our trust in Jesus Christ to enter into a living, experienced relationship with the Trinity. It includes the experience of being “born again” (John 3:3), being “born of the Spirit” (John 3:6), and belonging to God, whereby “the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (Romans 8:16).
Saving faith is more than intellectual assent, the mind agreeing with the Good News of Jesus Christ as a general truth.
Prayer – Prayer is a two-way conversation with God, in which God also speaks through the Holy Spirit, and we listen – “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26).
Worship – Regardless of form and ritual, worship is an intensifying experience of God, in which the Holy Spirit draws us into greater intimacy with him. In worship, the Holy Spirit takes us – to use the language of the ancient worship tent in the Bible that was “a copy and a shadow of the real one in heaven” (Hebrews 8:5) – from the “Outer Court” to the “Holy Place” and finally to the “Most Holy Place” of God’s presence.
Following a prescribed ritual, word formula, or method in worship (without following the lead of the Holy Spirit) does not grant immediate and automatic access to God, at least not his fullness.
Jesus Christ – Jesus ministered on earth as the Christ, the Messiah, the one anointed and filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus demonstrated to his disciples what it means to live by the Spirit, in the Spirit’s power, and encouraged them to do the same – “… how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.” (Acts 10:38) | “Then John gave this testimony: ‘I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptise with water told me, The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptise with the Holy Spirit’” (John 1:32-33) | See also Luke 4:14-21.
Jesus did not live his life on earth by the power of his divinity, using native supernatural powers like an alien Superman.
Infilling with the Holy Spirit – Baptized Christians need to seek repeated and continual infilling with the Holy Spirit. Believers can “quench” (1 Thessalonians 5:19) and “grieve” (Ephesians 4:30) the Holy Spirit (through sin and disobedience), but the goal is to remain filled with the Spirit – “Stop getting drunk with wine, which leads to wild living, but keep on being filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18) | See also Acts 4:31.
Christians are not automatically in a state of being filled with the Holy Spirit on account of their conversion or baptism.
Spiritual gifts – God grants and operates through gifts given by the Holy Spirit. Spiritual gifts include speaking in tongues, prophecy, healing gifts, and miracles. These gifts are to be desired, although not every gift may be given to all believers – “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7).
It is not an option to be sceptical and ignorant about spiritual gifts, because God operates through them and wants everyone to desire them – 1 Corinthians 14:1: “Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy.” | 1 Corinthians 14:39: “Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.”
Mission work – For conversions to happen, many people need to hear the Good News, witness the power of the Holy Spirit in action, and see Christians working for the coming of God’s kingdom on earth – “Our Good News came to you not only in words but also with power, namely, with the Holy Spirit and full conviction…You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 1:5-6) | See also 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; Romans 15:18-20.
By itself, a sound exposition of the Word of God in the Bible does not lead to conversions – “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures…. You are witnesses… but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:45-49).
Expelling unclean spirits – Ministering in the power of the Holy Spirit leads to a confrontation with the devil and the powers of darkness – “… I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me” (Acts 26:17-18) | “As you go, proclaim this message: “The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal those who are ill, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give” (Matthew 10:7-8) | See also Ephesians 6:10-12.
We need more than little to no experience in dealing with unclean spirits.
Discipleship – Discipleship means learning a life of obedience to Jesus, which is only possible through the power of the Holy Spirit – “For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.” (Romans 8:13) | See also Ephesians 2:8-10; Romans 1:1-5; Titus 2:11-14; Romans 8:3-4.
We cannot be relaxed or resigned to failing in our attempts at discipleship and learning to obey Jesus.
Christian unity – Believers are one, belonging to one another before agreeing on everything. Believers are “all children of God through faith” (Galatians 3:26), and belong to one another in a “unity of the Spirit” (Ephesians 4:13). Believers are to build each other up “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). | See also Colossians 2:2.
The above list is long and embarrassing, especially for an ordained church minister. I should have known better. But my need for reformation resonated with other ministers and resembles many other clergy and churches. In Toowoomba, a core group of ministers agreed, the time is right to put church reformation on the agenda, a Spirit reformation, which attempts to recapture core teachings of the Christian faith by pointing out especially, in addition to the roles of the Father and the Son, the role and workings of the Spirit in all of them – saving faith, prayer, worship, Jesus the Christ, infilling with the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, mission work, discipleship, Christian unity, and more. The goal would be for churches everywhere, like Paul, to minister not only in words but also with the power of the Holy Spirit, which brings tangible experiences of God, not least faith conviction and joy given by the Holy Spirit.
Church reformation, rediscovering what it means to “live by the Spirit”, will help in an age of church decline and also position churches to take advantage of a new interest in spirituality and encountering God. Judging by the number of growing congregations among us, God is moving people to search for him, and we want to be ready with words, the Good News of Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit.
There is nothing underwhelming about God, and our churches will be places where everyone can discover that. How would you feel about joining something of a grassroots movement, a Spirit reformation groundswell?
Blessings and love, Edgar Mayer with
Living Grace Church, Toowoomba.
Mission Statement: Spirit Reformation, a grassroots movement, seeks to rebuild the church by restoring the Holy Spirit to the teaching foundations of the Christian faith.
Join at https://www.change.org/SpiritReformation.
Resources: There are many helpful books to read, such as Surprised by the Power of the Holy Spirit and Surprised by the Voice of God by Jack Deere, When Heaven Invades Earth by Bill Johnson, and The Familiar Stranger by Tyler Staton. The renowned Alpha Course includes the Holy Spirit Weekend, which focuses on teaching and experiencing God in a personal way through the Holy Spirit.
Then, I have written a practical (extensive) Christian Life Course with the intent of restoring the Holy Spirit to the teaching foundations of the Christian faith. The course is available in ten teaching manuals containing three lessons each. The lessons are easy to understand, flexible in use, and full of testimonies from the Bible and church history. The course is a free resource available on request (contact edgarmayer.au@gmail.com).
This petition is also available: here.
[1] Staton, Tyler: The Familiar Stranger, London: Hodder Faith 2025.
[2] Staton, Tyler: The Familiar Stranger.
[3] Hans-Werner Bartsch, ed., Reginald Fuller, trans., Kerygma and Myth—A Theological Debate (London, 1972), 5.
[4] See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIyVwwXFyLc
[5] Comment: Ten possible misconceptions are listed and addressed briefly, without going into doctrinal details, leaving room for different ministers and churches to spell out various teachings differently. For instance, prayer is a two-way conversation, but no “theology of prayer” is being developed. We need refillings with the Holy Spirit because we can “quench” (1 Thessalonians 5:19) and “grieve” him (Ephesians 4:30), but there is no push to prescribe how fresh infillings may work or be understood. In this document and generally, the aim is to keep core teachings brief and minimalist, while still indicating what may need to shift in people’s understanding. By God’s grace, this will be non-controversial in most contexts.
It is true that not all ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit has been gentle and helpful. People have hurt people. There is a need for shared discernment, repentance, loving one-another, overcoming fear, and healing, all undergirded by grace and truth.
Petition Updates
Share this petition
Petition created on 15 May 2026